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THE LIFE 



MARTIN LUTHER 



PRINTED BY BOBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKT.YN, 

Great New Street and Fetter Lane. 




iiaaiaiHIlg^ll^ 



THE LIFE 



MARTIN LUTHER, 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 



n Jfiftj ^utnxts, 



FROM DESIGNS BY 



GUSTAV KONIG. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION 

IN GERMANY. 



LONDON : 
NATHANIEL COOKE, MILFORD HOUSE, STRAND. 

1853. 






l <S 5" 3 



PEEFACE. 



The great Reformer who is the hero of the following pages 
was distinguished, in addition to his many other high claims 
to admiration, by a true love for the arts. Luther's passion 
for music has become proverbial. As he loved the arts, he 
made friends of artists ; and was materially assisted in the 
great task of his life by Lucas Kranach, the greatest German 
painter of his age. The personal friend and disciple of 
Luther, he brought all the energy of an impassioned nature, 
all the resources of his art, to help the great work of the 
Reformation. It is particularly appropriate, therefore, that 
a book destined to honour the great Reformer of Germany, 
and spread abroad his name and fame, should derive its 
principal claim to public favour from its beautiful illustra- 
tions. Such is the case with the work now translated from 
the German and placed before the British public. The ele- 
gant drawings from which the artistic engravings of the 
original work were made, created a great sensation at Munich 
a few years ago ; they found so many and such ardent admi- 
rers, that it was resolved to publish them, together with a 
biography of Luther. M. Gelzer undertook the latter portion 

b 



PREFACE. 



of the work. His object was, he says, to present to his coun- 
trymen a book which should renew in fresh outlines the 
image of their great intellectual hero, — a book which a father 
might read to his domestic circle, — which might accompany 
the young student to his high school, — -and which might fur- 
nish a subject for reflection to the clergyman, whether in the 
quiet of his native land or in a new home in distant colonies 
on the other side of the ocean, reminding him, in the latter 
case, of the land of his fathers, the historical home of his 
spiritual life and of his faith. 

M. Gelzer has endeavoured to portray Luther such as he 
was ; not concealing imperfections inseparable from human 
nature, but which, in the case of Luther ; were outweighed a 
thousand times by his virtues. At the same time, he seeks to 
give the reader a correct idea of the immense amount of 
patience, perseverance, and labour by which the great Re- 
former gained for himself and for his country the praise of 
having stood foremost in the struggle for the mental advance- 
ment of mankind. 

M. Gelzer, living in a country where Roman Catholicism 
remains the religion of a large portion of the people, is neces- 
sarily tolerant, like the rest of his countrymen ; and he has 
endeavoured, he says, carefully to avoid all bitterness of spirit 
towards the members of that creed which waged war and 
persecution against Luther. He aptly quotes the observation 
of Frederick Schlegel, who, after having become a Catholic 
himself, recommends all his co-religionists to look upon every 
earnest Protestant as a future Catholic ; and adds, that it 



PREFACE. 



wouM be wise were Protestants to look upon every sincere 
Catholic and love him as a future Protestant. Such a man- 
ner of judging is a fitting preparation for the free spiritual 
union of all Christians, such as neither earlier nor later 
attempts have yet succeeded in achieving. 

We trust that this Life of Luther, the German Reformer, 
in . an English form, may prove as interesting to English 
readers as it has, to the honour of the Germans, been popular 
in Germany. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface . v 



©ascription of tfje Plates. 



I. Luther's Birth. Eleven p.m., Nov. 11, 1483 . . . .13 
II. Luther at School . . .14 

III. Luther sings as a Chorister at the door of Mistress Ursula Cotta 

at Eisenach 14 

IV. Luther discovers the Latin Bible in the University Library at 

Erfurt, 1501 15 

V. Luther's Friend Alexis is killed at his side by Lightning while 

THEY ARE ON A JOURNEY . 16 

VI. Luther enters the Monastery of the Augustines, 1505 . .16 

VII. Luther is solemnly ordained a Priest 17 

VIII. Luther's bodily and mental Self-torments . . . . .18 
IX. Luther lies in his cell fainting, the Bible in his hand; Friends 

revive him by means of Music 18 

X. Luther, mentally and corporeally exhausted, is strengthened by 

THE CONSOLING EXHORTATIONS OF AN OLD MONK . . . .19 

XL Luther, as Bachelor of Arts, lectures on Philosophy and Di- 
vinity ........... 20 

XII. Luther preaches in the Monastery before Staupitz and the other 
Brethren, preparatory to Preaching in the Palace and Town 
Churches. .......... 21 

XIII. Luther's Journey to Rome, 1510. . . . . . .22 



CONTENTS. 



XIV. Luther is with great solemnities created and consecrated Doc- 
tor of Divinity and Teacher of the holy Scriptures . . 22 
XV. Luther occupied with the Duties of Vicar -General of the 

AUGUSTINES, WHICH HAD BEEN INTRUSTED TO HIM BY STAUPITZ . 23 

XVI. Below, Luther in the Confessional refuses Absolution to those 
Penitents who rely on Indulgences. To the left, Tetzel 
selling his ware, and burning Luther's Propositions (Theses). 
In the centre, Luther affixes his Ninety-five Propositions to 
the Church-door. To the right, the Students of Witten- 
berg burn Tetzel's Reply .... 
XVII. Luther before Cajetan 



XVIII. Luther's Disputation with Dr. Eck at Leipzic, 1519 



24 
25 
26 

27 
27 



XIX. Luther burns the Papal Bull .... 
XX. Luther's Reception at Worms .... 
XXI. Above, Luther preparing himself by prayer for his Appearance 
before the emperor and empire. the principal scene shows 
Luther and Frondsberg at the entrance of the Imperial Hall 28 
XXII. Luther before the Emperor and the Empire, 1521 . . . 29 

XXIII. Luther carried off by his Friends on his Return, 1521 . . 30 

XXIV. Luther begins his Translation of the Bible at the Wartburg . 30 
XXV. Below, Luther's Departure on horseback from the Wartburg. 

to the left, above, luther and the swiss students in the 
Inn called the Black Bear, at Jena. To the right, Luther 
in the circle of his wlttenberg friends recognised on their 
entrance by the Swiss Students . . '. - . . .31 
XXVI. Luther checks the Destruction of the Images of Saints, 1522 . 32 
XXVII. Luther continues his Translation of the Bible with the assist- 
ance of Melanchthon, 1523-4 ...... 33 

XXVIII. Luther preaches at Seeburg against the Peasants' War, 1525. 33 

XXIX. Luther's Marriage 34 

XXX. The Controversy between Luther and Zwingle on the Sacra- 
ment 36 

XXXI. Above, Luther praying. Principal scene, the Presentation of 

the Augsburg Confession, 1530 37 

XXXII. The Translation of the Bible ... ... 38 





CONTENTS. 


xi 


NO. 




PACK 


XXXIII. 


The Improvement of Schools : Introduction of the Catechism. 


40 


XXXIV. 


The Sermon 


41 


XXXV. 


The Sacrament of the holy Communion in both kinds 


42 


XXXVI. 


Luther reads the Bible to the Elector John the Constant . 


42 


XXXVII. 


Luther on a Sick-bed, 1537, is visited and comforted by the 


! 




Elector John-Frederick ....... 


43 


xxxvnr. 


Luther sits for his Portrait to Lucas Kranach 


44 


XXXIX. 


Luther Praying at the Sick-bed of Melanchthon . 


44 


XL. 


Luther's Singing at Home. Introduction of the German 






Church Hymns and Chants 


46 


XLI. 


Luther's Joys of Summer in the bosom of his Family, and his 






ordinary Dinner-guests 


47 


XLIL 


Luther's Winter Pleasures ....... 


48 


XLIII. 


Luther beside the Coffin of his Daughter Magdalen 


48 


XLIV. 


Luther and Hans Kohlhase ....... 


49 


XLV. 


Luther visiting Plague Patients . . . 


50 


XLVL 


Luther takes leave of his Family; experiences great Danger 
during his Journey; his Reception at the Frontiers by the 






Counts of Mansfeld 


52 


XL VII. 


Luther's Death ......... 


53 


XL VIII. 


Luther's Obsequies 


53 


" A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION 


! 


IN GERMANY. 




Introductory Remarks ...... 


57 




fxxsi SKctfd. 




Preparations fop. War ...... . 


65 


The Reformation before Luther ........ 


66 


The Reformation in Luther . . . . . . 

1 


88 



CONTENTS. 



Swonb Sketch 

STRUGGLE WITH ROME. 

PAGE 

The Steuggle . . . .108 

The Rupture 124 

C dirb $kU\j. 

REFORMATION AND REVOLUTION. 

Resistance to the Religious Revolution ....... 137 

Resistance to the Political and Social Revolution .... 150 

Jonxty §ktri). 

THE REFORMER AND HIS WORK. 

Luther Founder of a New Church .167 

Luther's Domestic Life and Friendships .192 

Retrospect and Conclusion 201 



THE 



LIFE OF MARTIN LUTHER. 



Inscription of tfje plates. 



No. I. 

LUTHER'S BIRTH. Eleven p.m., Nov. 11, 1483. 

The artist carries us back to Luther's very entrance into life, at Eis- 
leben. The child is born ; and the father devotes him in prayer to the 
service of his Lord and Maker. 

Conrad Schliisselburg relates, that Luther's father had often prayed 
aloud and fervently, at the bedside of his child, that God would grant 
the boy grace, that he might — remembering his name, Luther, i.e. lauter 
(pure) — forward the propagation of the pure doctrine. Supposing that 
this account, which was most likely present to the mind of the artist 
when he conceived this picture, were unfounded or unauthenticated, — ■ 
still, all that is known of the great Reformer's father assures us that the 
first emotion at the birth of his son was no other than the one here 
depicted. 

To the right, on the wall, we see the portrait of St. Martin, whose 
name was given to the infant born on that saint's day ; " which bap- 
tismal name," says Johann Mathesius, "he has maintained through life 
with Christian honour, as a valiant warrior and knight of Christ." 

B 



14 MARTIN LUTHER, 



No. II. 

LUTHER AT SCHOOL. 

Here is the school at Mansfeld to which Hans Luther took his son, 
— the second step in that son's life. " Hans Luther brought up his bap- 
tised little son creditably in the fear of God by the gains of his mining 
labours; and when he came to years of discretion, sent him, with heart- 
felt prayer, to the Latin school, where the boy learnt quickly and indus- 
triously the ten commandments, the child's creed, the Lord's prayer, 
also Donatus, the child's grammar, Cesio Janus, and psalm-singing." 
(Mathesius.) 

The rod in the master's hand, and the weeping boy behind his chair, 
are peculiarly significant. "In one morning," Luther himself narrates, 
" I was well whipt fifteen times." In his later years he still complains, 
"how in former times schools were mere prisons or hells, and school- 
masters tyrants and flagellators ; how the poor children were whipt 
indiscriminately and unceasingly ; how they were made to learn with 
great labour and immoderate toil, but to little purpose. To such 
teachers and masters we were every where obliged to submit : they 
knew nothing themselves, and could teach us nothing good or useful." 



No. III. 

LUTHER SINGS AS A CHORISTER (OURRENDSCHULER*) AT THE DOOR 
OF MISTRESS URSULA COTTA AT EISENACH. 

We stand before the house of Mistress Cotta, where Luther sings as 
a poor scholar for his daily bread. " It is stated," he says, '* and it is 
true, that the Pope himself has been a poor scholar ; therefore despise 
not those poor lads who cry at your door, Panem propter Deum ! and 

* The word currend is derived from the Latin currere, to run, and, with the addition 
of Schiiler (scholar), is here applied to a company of boys found in those days in almost 
all considerable German towns, who walked (or ran) through the streets singing hymns. 
The practice seems to have originated with the begging friars, who wandered about get- 
ting their living by alms. They were imitated by the Bacchantes, who sang at people's 
doors and received alms. After the Reformation they were formed into regular chorus- 




p. 14. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 15 



sing their song for their daily bread. I myself was once such a scream- 
ing boy, and have sought my bread at people's doors, particularly in my 
beloved city of Eisenach." 

Repulsed from several doors, and much depressed, he arrives at 
length with his choir before the hospitable dwelling of his future foster- 
mother, the good Mistress Cotta, " a devout matron, who gave him a 
place at her table, because she had conceived a warm affection for the 
boy, on account of his singing and his ardent prayer." In the house of 
this his fostering friend and comforter he became intimate with a higher 
comforter, music, that noble relief to his war-worn spirit. Here he learnt 
to play on several musical instruments. 



No. IV. 

LUTHER DISCOVERS THE LATIN BIBLE IN THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 

AT ERFURT, 1501. 

But a yet higher study was opening before him than that of music, 
the holy Scriptures, the revelation of God ! In the library at Erfurt 
he found the book which was to become the foundation-stone of his 
future labours. Mathesius relates : " As he searches among the 
books in the university library, to make himself acquainted with the 
good ones, he hits upon the Latin Bible, which he has never seen 
before. He observes with astonishment that this book contains many 
more texts, epistles, and gospels, than are usually explained in the 
homilies, or from the pulpits in churches. As he is turning over the 
Old Testament he meets with the history of Samuel and his mother 
Anna, which he reads hastily through with great joy and delight; he 
begins to wish from his whole heart that our good God would give him 
some day such a book to be his own." 

This was the first casual sight Luther ever had into that land which 

singers, who, like their prototypes, sang at the doors of the wealthier citizens, and were 
maintained from some charitable or church fund. The Translator remembers such a band 
very well in her native city, traversing the streets on Sunday, Wednesday, and Saturday 
mornings, stopping at the doors of the clergymen and of some members of the magistracy, 
singing hymns appropriate to the days, on Sundays before the beginning of divine service. 
They were then admitted to the chapel royal, and joined in the choir. They wore curious 
old-fashioned hats and cloth cloaks, which were regularly provided for them. 



16 MARTIN LUTHER, 



was to become his home. He says himself, "As a young man I saw a 
Bible in the university library at Erfurt, and read a portion of the first 
book of Samuel; but I had to attend a lecture just then: willingly 
would I have read through the whole book, but had no opportunity." 

The artist brings before our eyes the inquiring youth absorbed in 
his great discovery, having cast aside the schoolmen, and their mis- 
understood chief, Aristotle. 



No. y. 

LUTHER'S FRIEND ALEXIS IS KILLED AT HIS SIDE BY LIGHTNING 
WHILE THEY ARE ON A JOURNEY. 

Presentiments of death in frightful forms arise before the thoughtful 
mind of young Luther : a university friend (Alexis is said to have been 
his name) is suddenly killed ; a thunderstorm surprises and terrifies him 
during a solitary ramble. The two events mature in him the resolution 
to withdraw from the world, and devote himself entirely to God. 

When his good friend is killed, and a violent storm and fearful clap 
of thunder alarm him greatly, and he is filled with dread of the wrath 
of God and the last judgment, he resolves and makes a vow that he will 
enter a monastery, there to serve God and be reconciled unto him by 
the reading of masses ; also to attain his eternal salvation by monastic 
sanctity. " Help, Saint Anna !" he cried, when the lightning struck 
close beside him, " and I will forthwith become a monk !" 

The artist has designedly adopted the above legendary version of 
this event in Luther's life, according to which his friend was killed 
beside him ; and we see his two mighty monitors of death — the corpse 
of his friend and the lightning — united to create one impression. 



No. VI. 

LUTHER ENTERS THE MONASTERY OF THE AUGUSTINES, 1505. 

The vow is accomplished ; Luther enters the monastery of the Au- 
gustine friars at Erfurt, on St. Alexius's day, July 17th, 1505. Having 
obtained his first degree at the university, he becomes a monk. 







p. 16. 




p. 16. 




p. 17. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 17 



" I became a monk," he wrote some time afterwards to his father, 
" not willingly, still less to fatten my body, but because, when I was 
encompassed by the terror and fear of quick- coming death, I vowed a 
forced and hasty vow." 

Only two Latin poets, Virgil and Plautus, now his sole property, 
accompanied him into the cell of the cloister ; he crossed its threshold 
while yet engaged in anxious internal strife. Like a prophecy of future 
liberation did the statue of St. Augustine, the tutelary saint of his order, 
whose words were destined at a later period to become for him a guide 
to the living waters, look down upon him. 

" I entered the monastery and left the world," he says, " despairing 
of myself. I thought God would not take my part ; and if I meant to go 
to heaven, and be saved, it must be by my own efforts. For this reason 
I became a monk, and laboured hard." 



No. VII. 

LUTHER IS SOLEMNLY ORDAINED A PRIEST. 

The master of arts has become a monk, the monk now becomes a 
priest. The vow of the monk and the ordination of the priest are 
raised like two walls between Luther and the profane world, between 
him and the original Gospel. 

On Sunday, Cantate, May 2d, 1507, he read mass for the first time. 
" It is a fine thing," he said later, " to be a new priest and to celebrate 
mass for the first time ! Blessed was the woman who had borne a priest. 
A consecrated parson, as compared with a common baptised Christian, 
was like the morning star compared to a flickering wick." 

" As the glorious God, holy in all his works," he writes to Brown a 
few days before his ordination, "has deemed me, an unworthy sinner, 
fit to be raised thus highly, and in his exceeding mercy has called me to 
his most solemn service, I am in every way bound to undertake the task 
which has been intrusted to me, that I may be as grateful for his divine 
goodness as it is possible for such dust as I." 



MARTIN LUTHER, 



No. VIII. 

LUTHER'S BODILY AND MENTAL SELE-TORMENTS. 

Neither monkish vow nor ordination, however, could bring peace "to 
this troubled heart yearning after God. 

" I have indeed" — these are his own words — " kept the rules of 
my order with great perseverance and zeal ; I have often been sick and 
almost dead with fasting. A disgraceful persecutor and murderer of my 
own body I was ; for I fasted, prayed, watched, wearied, and exhausted 
myself beyond my strength. We had been brought up under these 
human ordinances, which had obscured Christ, and made him of no avail 
to us ; I thought that my monkery would be all-sufficient ; for I did not 
believe in Christ, but took him to be only a dreadful judge, as he was 
painted sitting on a rainbow. 

" The more I strove to pacify my conscience by means of fasting, 
watching, and praying, the less quiet and peace I felt ; for the true light 
was hidden from mine eyes. The more I sought the Lord, and thought 
to approach him, the further I departed from him. 

" There is no greater affliction and misery in this life, than the pain 
and trouble of a heart that is lost, and knows no counsel or consolation. 
There is no heavier suffering than sorrow of the heart ; for that is death 
and hell itself. Then let who can unlock and lock again this hell, in 
order that such a weak and troubled heart may not altogether expire 
when it is conscious of sin, and suffers such martyrdom thereat." 

Nothing external, not the martyr's cross which he embraced, not the 
castigations with which he tormented himself, could satisfy the longing 
of his soul. 



No. IX. 

LUTHER LIES IN HIS CELL EAINTING, THE BIBLE IN HIS HAND ; 
ERIENDS REVIVE HIM BY MEANS OE MUSIC. 

The artist takes us into Luther's monastic cell at Erfurt ; we see the 
youth weakened by mental struggles and penances, as, absorbed in the 
Scriptures, he has fainted, so that the monks can awaken him only by 
the power of music. 




VIII. 



p. 18. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 19 



According to Seckendorf's account, this event occurred at Witten- 
berg, where Luther's friend, Edenberger, roused him with a sacred song, 
which he and the boys of the choir sang at his door ; but the artist 
adopts the more generally believed version, that this event occurred in 
the monastery at Erfurt. It is more than probable that such instances 
of abstraction and the arousing from it occurred more than once. " For 
music," thus Luther spoke in praise of the art, " is the best cordial for 
a sorrowful man, which maketh the heart contented, refreshed, and 
vigorous." 

" I made myself," he states, referring to that period, " so well 
acquainted with, the Bible, that I knew the page and place of every 
text. No other study than that of the Scriptures interested me ; I read 
them zealously, and imprinted them on my memory. Many a time one 
single significant text dwelt in my thoughts for a whole day." 



No. X. 

LUTHER, MENTALLY AND CORPOREALLY EXHAUSTED, IS STRENGTH- 
ENED BY THE CONSOLING EXHORTATIONS OF AN OLD MONK. 

Still more powerfully than by music was Luther strengthened by the 
living word of God from the mouth of a believer. " God sent him," 
relates Mathesius, " an old brother of the monastery as a confessor, who 
consoled him affectionately, and pointed out to.him the merciful forgive- 
ness of sins as announced in the apostolic confession of faith ; and who 
taught him, from the sermons of St. Bernard, that he ought to have 
this faith also with regard to himself, that our merciful God and Father 
had granted him forgiveness of all his sins through the sole sacrifice and 
blood of his Son, and had announced, the same, through the Holy Ghost, 
in the apostolic church, by the word ' absolution.' This proved a living 
and powerful consolation to our Doctor's heart, in that he hath often 
made honourable mention of his confessor, and heartily thanked him." 
Seckendorf, in his account of Luther having been comforted on his sick- 
bed by an old monk, apparently confounds this event with an earlier one, 
when Luther, before his entrance into the monastery, was, during a 
serious illness, consoled by an old monk in these words : " Be comforted, 
my young bachelor of arts, thou shalt not die of this attack ; our God 



20 MARTIN LUTHER, 



will yet make of thee a great man, who is to comfort many people. For 
whom God loveth, and whom he wills to prepare for salvation, on him 
he early lays the cross ; in which school of the cross patient people may 
learn much." 

The artist has, notwithstanding this, a good right to represent Luther 
to us in the monastery also as a sick man ; for he himself says of these 
attacks : "In the great temptations which I suffered, and which con- 
sumed my body so that I had no breath, no man could comfort me." 

The living power which dwelleth in the communion of faith Luther 
experienced for the first time at the words of that grey-headed man. It 
was his first conception of the true imperishable church. 



No. XI. 

LUTHER, AS BACHELOR OE ARTS, LECTURES ON PHILOSOPHY 
AND DIVINITY. 

Luther, in his twenty-fifth year, steps from the monk's cell, as teacher, 
into the lecture-room ; the worst period of his mental troubles is past ; 
the feeling of inward freedom strives for a first imperfect utterance. 

Having been called in 1508 to the new university at Wittenberg, he 
there delivered his first course of lectures on philosophy (on that of 
Aristotle), and afterwards another on divinity (on the Psalms and the 
Epistle to the Romans). " Here Brother Martin begins to study the 
Scriptures, and begins, at the High School, to contend against that 
sophistry which prevailed every where at that time." Among his 
hearers in the first row we see the first rector of the new university, 
Dr. Pollich of Melrichstadt, physician to the Elector Frederick, and 
afterwards also doctor of divinity. Of him Mathesius says : " Dr. 
Pollich, who was at that time a lux mundi (light of the world), that is 
to say, a doctor of laws, of medicine, and of monastic sophistry, would 
not forget even at table the arguments and conclusions of the monk. 
' That monk,' he often said, as I have heard from the mouth of his bro- 
ther Walter, ' will confound all the learned doctors, propound a new 
doctrine, and reform the whole Roman church ; for he studies the 
writings of the prophets and the evangelists ; he relies on the word 
of Jesus Christ — no one can subvert that, either with philosophy or 




XI. 



p 20. 




XII. 



p. 21. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 21 



sophistry.' " According to Pollich, Luther himself said, " Let the 
doctors be the doctors ; we must not hearken to what holy church 
says, but to what Scripture says." 

At the right hand of Pollich sits Johann Staupitz, vicar-general of 
the order of Augustine, and as such, Luther's superior ; indeed it was 
he who had called the latter to Wittenberg. Many years afterwards, 
in 1528, Luther expresses himself as follows, writing to Staupitz : 
" Through thee the light of the Gospel was lit up for the first time in 
the darkness of my soul." 



No. XII. 

LUTHER PREACHES IN THE MONASTERY BEFORE STAUPITZ AND THE 

OTHER BRETHREN PREPARATORY TO PREACHING IN THE 

PALACE AND TOWN CHURCHES. 

Luther the teacher is also to have a cure of souls ; the man of the 
school is to become the man of the church. Unwillingly and fearfully 
did he comply with the wish of his paternal friend Staupitz, that he 
should preach. " Oh, how I dread the pulpit ! It is no trifling thing 
to speak to the people in the name of God, and to preach to them !" 

His first sermons, until the town church was open to him, he 
delivered in the small ruinous chapel of his monastery, only thirty feet 
long and twenty broad. Myronius says, " This chapel might be com- 
pared to the stable in which Christ was born. In this miserable build- 
ing it was the will of God that his Gospel was to be preached, and his 
beloved Son Jesus Christ as it were to be born again ; not one among 
the cathedrals or other grand churches did he choose for these excellent 
sermons." " When I was a young preacher," says Luther himself, " I 
was fully in earnest, and would willingly have made all the world pious." 
— " God has led me to it as he did Moses. Had I known all before- 
hand, he would have had greater trouble ere he had led me thus far. 
Well, as I have begun, I will go through with this work." 

In front the grey-headed Staupitz sits among the hearers, listening 
attentively to the address of his spiritual foster-son. He lived to see 
the plant flourish which he had helped to rear. 



22 MARTIN LUTHER, 



No. XIII. 

LUTHER'S JOURNEY TO ROME, 1510. 

A vow had led young Luther into a monastery ; another vow (added 
to a commission from his monastery) took him to Home. In the mon- 
astery, as on his pilgrimage thither, experience awaited him : in each 
case to be grievously undeceived. 

" In the year 1510," writes Mathesius, "his monastery sent him to 
Rome. There he saw the holy father the Pope, and his pompous reli- 
gion and impious courtiers. This greatly strengthened him afterwards." 

When he came with his companions in sight of Rome, he raised 
his hands and cried, " I greet thee, thou holy Rome ! yes, truly holy 
through the blood of the martyrs which was here shed." Of the out- 
ward show of the prince of the church, he says, " Rome has now its 
pomps ; the Pope goes about in triumph, fine, richly adorned horses 
before him, and he beareth the host on a white horse." 

Luther left the holy city with a sharp thorn in his side. " I would 
wish that every one who is to become a preacher had been first at 
Rome, and seen how matters are carried on there." Mathesius says 
that he frequently expressed himself to the effect, " he would not 
take a thousand florins not to have been at Rome." "I have myself 
heard it said at Rome, ' It is impossible that matters can remain in that 
state ; things must change or break down.' " Again, " Pope Julius said, 
' If we do not choose to be pious ourselves, let us at least not prevent 
others.' I have heard say at Rome, ' If there be a hell, Rome has 
been built on the top of it.' Rome has been the most holy city ; but 
now it has become the most unrighteous and disgraceful. Whoever 
has been at Rome knows well that things are worse there than can be 
expressed in words, or believed." 



No. XIV. 

LUTHER IS WITH GREAT SOLEMNITIES CREATED AND CONSECRATED 
DOCTOR OF DIVINITY AND TEACHER OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 

On the 18th and 19th of October, 1512, Luther was solemnly 
sanctified to his great work, as teacher of his people and his church. 




XIII. 



p. '22. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 23 



Mathesius says, " Brother Martin was appointed on St. Luke's day 
doctor of the holy Scriptures, and took the oath, and promised to 
study and proclaim them all his life ; also to defend the holy Christian 
faith in writing and preaching against all heretics, so help him God !" 

Luther says : " But I, Doctor Martinus, have been called upon, 
compelled to become a teacher, without any wish of my own, from 
pure obedience. I had to take upon myself the degree of doctor, and 
vow and promise to my beloved holy Scriptures that I would teach 
and preach them faithfully in their purity. Teaching accordingly, pope- 
dom has come in my way, and wanted to stop me ; the consequences 
whereof may be seen by all who have eyes." 

Staupitz had had as much trouble to persuade Luther to accept the 
dignity of doctor, as previously to persuade him to preach. To his 
many objections Staupitz replied, " It seems that our God will soon 
have much work to be done for him in heaven and upon earth, and 
therefore he will need many young vigorous doctors to fight his battles. 
Whether you live or die, God has need of you in his councils." 

Karlstad t presided at the solemnity as theological dean (decari). 



No. XV. 

LUTHER OCCUPIED WITH THE DUTIES OE VICAR-GENERAL OF THE 

AUGUSTINES, WHICH HAD BEEN INTRUSTED TO HIM 

BY STAUPITZ. 

To the mental preparation which Luther had already undergone, a 
greater experience of life and a more extended intercourse with his 
fellow-men was now to be added. As locum ienens for his friend Stau- 
pitz, he' had an opportunity of acquiring the habits of active life. 

" About this time Staupitz was dispatched to the Netherlands to 
bring relics from a monastery. In the mean time Luther received the 
office of vicar, which included the supervision of the monasteries of the 
Augustines, and the order to institute a visitation of them. For this 
purpose he travelled from one to the other, assisted the schools, and 
admonished the brethren to study the Bible, and to live holily, peace- 
ably, and chastely." 

In a letter of the 26th of October, 1516, he thus describes to his 
friend Lange, at Erfurt, the extent of his daily occupations : " I might 



24 MAETIN LUTHER, 



find work for two clerks almost, for I am occupied all day in writing 
letters. T am preacher to the brotherhood, reader at meals (ecchdast), 
have to preach daily before the community, am also inspector of studies. 
1 am vicar ; and that means as much as ten priors (id est undecies prior). 
I lecture on St. Paul and on the Psalms; and am, beside all this, over- 
burdened with household matters." 

By the weight of all these labours for the eternal as well as the tem- 
poral welfare of those intrusted to his care, was the future head of the 
new church to be prepared for the arduous duties of the spiritual go- 
vernment of the church. 

" The word of a brother repeated and made known from the Scrip- 
tures, and spoken in times of trouble and danger, is weighty and im- 
portant." " If thou believe as firmly as thou ought," he writes in 1516, 
" then bear patiently with thy disorderly and erring brethren ; look upon 
their sins as thine own, and whatever of good there be in thee, let it be 
theirs. If thou be a rose and lily of Christ, know that thy path must 
lie among thorns, and see that thyself become not a thorn through im- 
patience, haughtiness, or secret pride." 

On this journey of visitation already he became conscious in his in- 
most soul of his future calling ; for when he learnt, in the monastery at 
Grimma, how Tetzel, the trafficker in indulgences, was carrying on his 
trade at the neighbouring town of Wurzen, he exclaimed angrily, " I 
will make a hole in this drum, so God will !" 

It was the first distant lightning- flash, the premonitor of the coining 
storm. The Reformer was prepared for his great work. 



No. XVI. 

IN FOUR COMPARTMENTS. 

BELOW, LUTHER IN THE CONFESSIONAL REFUSES ABSOLUTION TO 
THOSE PENITENTS WHO RELY ON INDULGENCES. 

TO THE LEFT, TETZEL SELLING HIS WAKE AND BURNING LUTHER'S PROPOSITIONS (THESEs). 
IN THE CENTRE, LUTHER AFFIXES HIS NINETY-FIVE PROPOSITIONS TO THE CHURCH- 
DOOR. TO THE RIGHT, THE STUDENTS OF WITTENBERG BURN TETZEL's REPLY. 

Unpretendingly began the greatest work of modern times by a Ger- 
man monk's affixing his ninety-five Theses to the church-door at Wit- 



J |l '^ f ^J U -VC/ 




XVII. 



p. 25. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 25 



tenberg. But this unpretending beginning became soon the awakening 
cry to all Christianity. 

" By Tetzel's, the seller of indulgences, audacious talk and abuse, he 
caused our Luther to buckle on his spiritual armour, and seize David's 
sling and the sword of the Lord, which meaneth ardent prayer and the 
pure word of God ; and relying for protection on his doctor's degree and 
his oath, he, in the name of God, assailed Tetzel and his Roman indul- 
gences, teaching boldly that they were dangerous delusions." 

The artist represents in his sketch the church-doors at Wittenberg as 
symbolical of the great gate of the universal Christian church, at which 
Luther knocks warningly and admonishingly with his Propositions. 
Above his head we see the swan rising from the flames of the stake on 
which Huss suffered. The groups on each side, the flames lighted by 
Tetzel and by the Wittenberg students, indicate the warfare, the hidden 
beginning of which is shewn in the confessional of Luther below. 



No. XVII. 

LUTHER BEFORE CAJETAN. 

Luther appears before the Pope's legate, Cardinal Cajetan, at Augs- 
burg, to defend his doctrine. Although kneeling reverently, according 
to custom, he courageously refuses to recant, as he is ordered. 

Angered by the obstinacy of the German, the Italian flings the 
written defence at his feet, saying wrathfully : "Appear not again be- 
fore mine eyes, unless thou recant." 

" Because he sat there representing the Pope," are Luther's own 
words, " he insisted that I should submit and agree to all he said ; while, 
on the contrary, all that I said against it was contemned and laughed at, 
although I quoted the Scriptures ; in short, his fatherly love went no 
further than that I must suffer violence or recant, for he declared he 
would not dispute with me." 

The artist has sought to depict the moment in which Luther picks 
up the paper which Cajetan has thrown down, while his friend Staupitz, 
evidently frightened at the wrath of the church dignitary, tries to pacify 
both. In the lower portion of the picture we see Luther, according to 
the advice of his friends, and assisted by Staupitz and Councillor Lange- 



26 MARTIN LUTHER, 



mantel, leaving Augsburg at night, through a small portal : " Staupitz 
had procured me a horse, and sent an old horssman with me who was 
acquainted with the road. I hastened away, without breeches, boots, 
spars, or sword, and reached Wittenberg." 



No. XVIII. 

LUTHER'S DISPUTATION WITH DR. ECK AT LEIPZIC, 1519. 

In Augsburg Luther had contended with the proud prince of the 
church of Home ; at Leipzic he was to defend his doctrine against the 
men of the schools in learned debate. On this occasion he spoke the 
decisive word to Dr. Eck : ■' I do not recognise any man as the head 
of the church militant but Jesus Christ only, on the ground of holy 
Scriptures." " For Luther, like the true Samson, pulled down the 
pillar on which the Romans rested the power of the Pope, and said, 
' that the text on which Dr. Eck relied — Thou art Peter, and on this 
rock will I build my church — did not refer to St. Peter, still less to 
any of his successors, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the true 
rock on which Christianity might stand against all the attacks of hell.' ' ! 
(Mathesius.) 

The two principal warriors, Luther and Eck, stand opposite each 
other in the hall of the Pleisenburg, the first advancing boldly to the 
attack, the other dexterously turning aside each blow, but cunningly 
enticing his opponent to further advances. 

At Luther's side sits the youthful Melanchthon, in silent, anxious 
thought, while the more lively Karlstadt seeks to assist his own weak 
memory by referring to books. In the centre of the hall Duke George 
of Saxony is listening attentively to the disputants, until at the words 
of Luther, " that even some of the propositions of Huss and of the 
Bohemians were perfectly Christian and evangelical," he angrily cries 
out, " Plague take it !" At his feet sits his one-eyed fool wildly staring 
at Dr. Eck. Artists and poets are fond of introducing into matters 
of solemn import, agreeable equally to legend as to history, some 
amusing trait of human folly, as in this case, into the midst of the 
princes and warriors of the church, the court-fool of an earthly prince. 




XYTTT. 



p. 26. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 



Xo. XIX. 



LUTHER BURNS THE PAPAL BULL, 



Neither cardinals nor doctors, neither negotiations nor disputations, 
could adjust the quarrel. A rupture ensued; Home condemned the Wit- 
tenberg doctor ; the doctor solemnly declared the Roman judgment to 
he naught ; he burnt the Pope's bull containing his condemnation. 

" But when the people from Louvain and other universities, the 
monasteries, and the bishops, attacked Luther's work with glowing fire, 
such fire having been stirred up and blown into a flame by the Pope at 
Rome, the spirit of God came upon this second Samson. On the 10th 
of December he once more caused a great fire to be made at Wittenberg 
before the Elster gate, and into it he himself threw the decrees of the 
Pope, also the bull of Leo X., saying, f Because thou, godless book, hast 
aggrieved or defamed the saint of the Lord, let eternal fire aggrieve and 
consume thee.' " (Mathesius.) 



Xo. XX. 



LUTHER'S RECEPTION AT WORMS. 



Luther is led from the quiet cell of the cloister, from the lecture- 
rooms of the university, from the midst of his powerfully-roused com- 
munity, upon a yet greater scene : all Germany looks upon him as upon 
no other ! The monk, the preacher, and the teacher of Wittenberg 
has become the man of the German nation. 

Therefore does the artist represent him, in this picture, in the midst 
of his people, who joyfully greet the man upon whom they found their 
hopes ; old and young, men and women, high and low, clergymen and 
laymen, all unite in one group. 

Beside Luther in the carriage sit his friends, Amsdorf, Petrus von 
Suaven, and the monk Pezenstein ; Justus Jonas and many Saxon noble- 
men, who had gone to meet him, follow on horseback. Thousands of 
people from all ranks accompany him to his abode in the " Deutschen 
Hof." 



28 MARTIN LUTHER, 



No. XXI. 

ABOVE, LUTHEE PREPARING HIMSELE BY EEAYEE EOE HIS APPEAR- 
ANCE BEFOEE THE EMPEROR AND EMPIRE. 

THE PRINCIPAL SCENE SHEWS LUTHER AND FRONDSBERG AT THE ENTRANCE OF 
THE IMPERIAL HALL. 

But this waving flood of the people, which on that day bore him 
upwards so mightily, is not the principal nor the strongest shield of his 
heart. This beating, warring heart appeals to a higher protection, — to 
the eternal rock amidst the flood of time and of nations. 

Streets and hostelries have become quiet, the masses which to-day 
shouted his welcome are silent ; but he seeks to compose his mind with 
music, and by gazing upwards into the sacred stillness of the starry sky; 
— he prays : 

" Almighty, eternal God, how poor a thing is this world ! how little 
a matter will cause the people to stand open-mouthed ! how little and 
mean is the confidence of man in God ! Do thou, O Lord, assist me 
against all worldly wisdom and understanding ; do this, thou must 
do it, thou alone! It is not indeed my cause, but thine own; I my- 
self have nothing to do here and with the great princes of this world. 
But it is thy cause, which is just and eternal ; I rely upon no man. 
Come, oh, come ! I am ready to give up even my life patiently, like 
a lamb; for the cause is just; it is thine, and I will not depart from 
thee eternally. This I resolve in thy name : the world cannot force my 
conscience. And should my body be destroyed therein, my soul is 
thine, and remaineth with thee for ever." 

The evening afterwards, when he was about to appear before the 
emperor, he met at the very threshold of the hall the knight George of 
Frondsberg ; who, laying his hand upon Luther's shoulder, said kindly, 
" Monk, monk (' Monchlein' being a caressing diminutive), thou enterest 
upon a path, and art about to take up a position, such as I and many 
other commanders have never braved even in our most serious battle- 
array. If thou have right on thy side, and be sure of thy cause, then 
go on, in the name of God, and be comforted ; God will not forsake 
thee 1" Thus spoke, if we are to believe in tradition, the knight of 
this world to the spiritual knight, — the military hero to the hero of 




p. 29. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 29 



the faith ; he spoke with noble modesty, as the inferior to the higher 
warrior. 

The two protecting figures above, to the right and left of Luther, 
represent two other German knights : Hutten, with his harp and sword, 
and the laurel-wreath of the poet on his brow ; and his friend, the valour- 
ous Sickingen, with the general's baton in his hand. They were ready 
to protect their " holy friend, the unconquerable theologian and evan- 
gelist, at Worms, by their word and their sword," if necessary. 



No. XXII. 

LUTHER BEFORE THE EMPEROR AND THE EMPIRE, 1521. 

The decisive moment has come ! Before the Emperor and the 
empire Luther is to prove whether the power of conscience is stronger 
in him than any other consideration. And it was stronger. " My con- 
science and the word of God," he says, " hold me prisoner ; therefore 
I may not nor will recant ! Here I stand ; I cannot do otherwise ; God 
help me. Amen !" 

" This is one of the glorious days," exclaims Mathesius, " before the 
end of the world, on which the word of God has been professed and 
confessed publicly with Christian rejoicings before the Roman emperor 
and the whole empire of Germany !" 

Next to the young Emperor Charles sits his brother Ferdinand ; at 
their sides the three spiritual and the three temporal electors — the 
wise Frederick of Saxony sits in front ; opposite, on the bench for the 
princes, we see Philip of Hesse looking attentively at Luther. Dr. 
Hieronymus Schorf stands behind him as his legal adviser ; opposite 
to him, at the table covered with Luther's works, we see the imperial 
orator and official of the Archbishop of Treves, Dr. John Eck ; nearer 
to the emperor, the Cardinal Alexander holds in his hand the bull con- 
taining the condemnation of Luther. In the background are seen the 
Spanish sentinels who mocked the German monk as he retired from the 
presence. 



30 MARTIN LUTHER, 



No. XXIII. 
LUTHER CARRIED OFF BY HIS FRIENDS ON HIS RETURN, 1521. 

Neither Spaniard nor Roman was to lay hand on the teacher of 
the German nation, so strong in the faith ; German fidelity and noble 
princely care had prepared for him a secret asylum. 

" But because Luther had been outlawed by the Emperor, and ex- 
communicated by the Pope, God inspired the wise Elector of Saxony 
to give orders, through confidential and trustworthy persons, to take pri- 
soner for a time the outlawed and excommunicated Luther, as the pious 
servant of God, Obadiah, the teacher of King Ahab, kept one hundred 
priests for a time concealed in a cavern, and fed them, while the Queen 
Jezabel sought their life. Our Doctor consented to this step at the 
anxious desire of good people." (Mathesius.) 

Captain Berlepsch and Burkard Hund, Lord of Altenstein, with 
their servants, stopped Luther's carriage in a hollow way near the Castle 
of Altenstein, in the direction of Waltershausen, and carried him off. 
His companion, Amsdorf, had to proceed alone, Luther's younger bro- 
ther having fled, alarmed at sight of the approaching horsemen. 



No. XXIV. 

LUTHER BEGINS HIS TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE AT THE WARTBURG. 

The heroic monk has suddenly vanished from the busy market-places 
of the world ; we find him in the quiet chamber of a Thuringian castle 
disguised as Master George, absorbed in the study of that volume which, 
since the dark days of Erfurt, had become the shining star of his life. 
This book was now to speak in the German tongue to German hearts ; 
such was Luther's resolution, and his labour in his Patmos. 

" While our Doctor was kept quite secretly at the Wartburg, he was 
not idle, but pursued daily his studies and his prayers, and devoted him- 
self to the Greek and Hebrew Bibles, and wrote many kind consolatory 
letters to his friends." (Mathesius.) 

" Jn the mean time," he writes, " I intend to translate the New Tes- 
tament into our mother tongue, as our people wish. Oh, that every city 







p 30 




XXIV. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 31 



had its own translator; so that this. took might te in the hands and 
hearts of every one ! .... I have taken upon myself a turden which 
surpasses my strength. Now only I perceive what a translation means, 
and why hitherto no one has ventured to put his name to one. It is to 
te hoped that we may give to our Germany a tetter translation than the 
Latins possess. It is a great work, well worthy that we should all latour 
thereat." 



No. XXV. 



THEEE COMPARTMENTS. 



BELOW, LUTHER'S DEPARTURE ON HORSEBACK EROM THE WARTBURG 

TO THE LEFT, ABOVE, LUTHER AND THE SWISS STUDENTS IN THE INN CALLED THE BLACK 
BEAR, AT JENA. TO THE RIGHT, LUTHER IN THE CIRCLE OF HIS WITTENBERG FRIENDS 
RECOGNISED ON THEIR ENTRANCE BY THE SWISS STUDENTS. 

The spiritual knight left his Patmos armed with his test weapon, 
— his Bitle. The news of the disturbances and confusion at Witten- 
berg tereft him of all peace in his solitude. 

" I come," he wrote to his prince, " to Wittenterg under a much 
higher protection than that of the Elector. In this tusiness the sword 
neither can nor ought to assist. God alone must here work without 
human care or interference : therefore he who hath most faith will in 
this matter protect most." 

In this confidence he had tegunhis journey; and thoughts like these 
occupied his mind most likely when, at Jena, in the inn called the Black 
Bear, he opened his heart so cheerfully and affectionately to the two 
Swiss students (Johannes Kessler and Riitiner, from St. Gall). 

One of them, Kessler, has descrited this meeting : " In the sitting- 
room we found a man sitting alone at a tatle, a little took lying tefore 
him ; he greeted us kindly, and called us forward to sit teside him at the 
tatle ; he offered us drink, which we could not refuse ; tut we did not 
imagine he was other than a horseman, who sat there dressed according 
to the custom of the country in a red cap, simple treeches and jacket, a 
sword at his side, holding with his right hand the pommel of the sword, 
with the other his took. And we asked him — 'Master, can you tell 
us whether Martin Luther te at this time at Wittenterg, or at which 
place he may te found ? ' He replied, ' I am well informed that Luther 



32 



MARTIN LUTHER, 



is not at this time at Wittenberg ; but he is soon to be there. Philip 
Melanchthon is there, however; he teaches Greek, and Hebrew also, 
both which languages I would truly recommend you to study, for they 
are necessary for understanding the Scriptures.' In such conversation he 
became quite familiar with us ; so that my companion at last took up and 
opened the little book which lay before him : it was a Hebrew Psalter." 
A few days later these Swiss men meet the same horseman at Wit- 
tenberg, at the house of their countryman Dr. H. Schurf, by the side 
of Melanchthon. (i When we were called into the room," relates 
Kessler, " behold, we find Martin, as we had seen him at Jena, with 
Melanchthon, Justus Jonas, Nicolaus Arnsdorf, and Dr. Schurf, all 
telling him what has happened at Wittenberg during his absence. He 
greets us smilingly, points with his finger, and says, ' This is the Philip 
Melanchthon of whom I spoke unto you.' " 



No. XXYI. 



LUTHER CHECKS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE IMAGES OE SAINTS, 1522. 

A new epoch, a yet more severe struggle, was now to begin for 
Luther. He had to prove to the world whether he could maintain the 
idea which animated him, even against the false deductions which others 
had drawn from it; whether he could meet and check the divisions 
among those who had hitherto been his adherents. From the seed of 
his doctrine " of the liberty of the Christian," there threatened to shoot 
up a harvest of the wildest fanaticism, if he should not root it out at the 
right moment. Already had Karlstadt and the enthusiasts of Zwickau 
begun to distract, by their iconoclastic mischief, the young community 
at Wittenberg. 

But Luther interfered, and preserved the liberty of the Gospel : 
" Do not change liberty into compulsion (Machet nur nicht aus dem 
Frei sein ein Muss sein)" he exclaimed, " that ye may not have to 
render an account of those whom you have led astray by your liberty 
without love." " As I cannot pour faith into the heart, I neither can 
nor ought to force or compel any one to believe ; for God only can do 
this, who alone can communicate life to the hearts of men. We are to 
preach the word; but the result must be as God pleases. Nothing can 







^fe i =- 



XXVI. 



p 32. 




p. 33. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 33 



come of force and command, but pretence, outward show, and the aping 
of religion. Let us first of all seek to move the heart ; wherever the 
heart and the mind of all are not moved, there leave it to God; ye cannot 
do any good. But if ye will carry out such base precepts, I will recant 
all I have written and preached ; I will not stand by you. The Word 
hath created heaven and earth and all things ; that Word must do it, and 
not poor sinners like ourselves." 

The artist makes the soothing power of Luther's preaching evident, 
by representing him in the midst of the iconoclasts, arresting their wild 
proceedings. 



No. XXVII. 



LUTHER CONTINUES HIS TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE WITH THE 
ASSISTANCE OF MELANCHTHON, 1523-4. 

From the confused crowd of the iconoclasts, and their fanatical ex- 
cesses, we enter once more Luther's silent cell, to witness the quiet and 
cheerful progress of his translation of the Bible. At his side stands the 
younger friend and assistant of the reformer, Philip Melanchthon, the 
distinguished teacher of the Greek language at the young University. 
According to Luther's description, he was " a mere youth in age, 
figure, and appearance ; but a man when one considered the extent of 
his knowledge." 

This was the beautiful period of their friendship, when each laboured 
in the same spirit at their common task, full of admiration of the higher 
gifts of the other. " See how beautiful and lovely it is when brethren 
dwell together in unity ! " 

Luther says in 1 522, " No commentator has come nearer to the 
spirit of the Apostle Paul than my Philippus." 



No. XXVIII. 

LUTHER PREACHES AT SEEBURG AGAINST THE PEASANTS' WAR, 1525. 

The reformation in the church is in danger of being swallowed up 
by a political revolution ; the internal freedom of the Christian is to 



34 MARTIN LUTHER, 



justify rebellion against the state. This stormy flood Luther opposes 
with his whole being ; shudderingly he seems to look into a bottomless 
abyss that opens before his people. 

In May 1525 he wrote to his brother-in-law from Seeburg, where 
he had warned the people against rebellious proceedings: ''Though 
there were many more thousand peasants, they are all of them robbers 
and murderers, who take to the sword for the sake of their own grati- 
fication, and who want to make a new rule in the world, for which they 
have from God neither law, nor right, nor command ; they likewise bring 
disgrace and dishonour upon the word of God and upon the Gospel : 
yet I still hope that this will not continue nor last. "Well, when I get 
home, I will prepare myself for death with God's help, and await my 
new masters, the robbers and murderers. But sooner than approve of 
and pronounce right their doings, I would lose an hundred necks, so 
God in his mercy help me !" 

" In this my conscience is secure, although I may lose my life. It 
endure th but a short time, until the right Judge cometh, who will find 
both them and us. ... . Their doings and their victories cannot last long." 

He had already warned the peasants, some time previously, in his 
" Admonition to Peace," and said : " Be ye in the right as much as ye 
may, yet it becometh no Christians to quarrel and to fight, but to suffer 
wrong and bear evil. Put away the name of Christians, I say, and make 
it not the cover for your impatient, quarrelsome, and unchristian inten- 
tions. That name I will grudge you, nor leave it you, but tear it 
away from you by writing and preaching, as long as a vein beats in my 
body." 



No. XXIX. 

LUTHER'S MARRIAGE. 



From the agitation caused by his opposition to the iconoclasts 
Luther had returned to his Bible ; from the annihilating struggles of 
a political revolution he turned to the symbolical erection of a Christian 
household, to the foundation of a family in the true German and evan- 
gelical spirit. 

Even during the storm of insurrection he wrote in the spring of 
1525, " And if I can fit it, I mean to take my Kate to wife ere I die, 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 35 



in despite of the devil, although I hear that my enemies will continue. 
1 hope they may not take from me my courage and my joy." A few 
weeks later, on June 13th, he was united to Katharina for life in the 
house of the town-clerk {Stadtschreiber) of Wittenberg: his friend Bugen- 
hagen blessed the sacred union, in the presence of the lawyer Apel and 
of Lukas Kranach. " Beloved heavenly Father," so did he pray, " as 
thou hast given me the honour of thy name and of thine office, and 
wiliest also that I should be called and be honoured as a father, grant 
me grace, and bless me, that I may govern and nourish my dear wife, 

child, and servants in a divine and Christian manner I have not 

known how to refuse to my beloved Lord and Father this last act of 
obedience to his will which he claimed of me, in the good hope that 
God may grant me children. Also that I may confirm my doctrine by 
this my act and deed ; seeing that I find still so many faint hearts, not- 
withstanding the shining light of the Gospel I have reaped 

such great discredit and contempt from this my marriage, that I hope 
the angels will rejoice and the devils weep. The world and her wise- 
acres know not nor understand this word, that it is divine and holy. . . 
If matrimony be the work of God, what wonder that the world should 
be offended thereat? Is it not also offended that its own God and maker 
has taken upon himself our flesh and blood and given it for its salva- 
tion, as a redemption and as food ? Matrimony drives, hunts, 

and forces man into the very innermost and highest moral condition ; 
that is to say, into faith — since there is no higher internal condition 

than faith, which dependeth solely upon the word of God 

Let the wife think thus : My husband is an image of the true high head 
of Christ. In the same manner the husband shall love his wife with his 
whole heart, for the sake of the perfect love which he seeth in Christ, 
who gave himself for us. Such will be a Christian and divine marriage, 

of which the heathens know nothing It is the highest mercy 

of God when a married couple love each other with their whole hearts 
through their whole lives." And this mercy he enjoyed. " My Kate 
is obedient and amenable to me in all things, more so than I had dared 
to hope. So that I deem myself richer than Croesus." 



36 MARTIN LUTHEE, 



No. XXX. 

THE CONTROVERSY BETWEEN LUTHER AND ZWINGLI ON THE 

SACRAMENT. 

Ten years earlier Luther had stood at Leipzic opposed to the prin- 
cipal and dexterous theological champion of the court of Rome ; here, 
at Marburg, we find him opposing the spiritual head of the Swiss Refor- 
mation. Wittenberg and Zurich, Saxony and Switzerland, represented 
by their most distinguished professors, debated in the castle at Marburg, 
from the 1st to the 4th of October 1529, upon the theological interpre- 
tation of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and upon the words em- 
ployed in instituting it. 

The profound mystery of the sacrament of the Lord's supper, in its 
depth and power entirely beyond the range, and indeed opposed to the 
scholastic controversy, became nevertheless the watchword of party. 

Zwingli dreaded a physical interpretation ; Luther, on the contrary, 
dreaded the evaporation of the spiritual element of the sacrament of the 
communion. One considered that he defended the corner-stone of evan- 
gelical Protestantism ; the other, the foundation of the Christian church. 
On one side the cry was, tf the spirit quickeneth, the flesh profiteth 
nothing !" the other side maintained the blessed presence and full enjoy- 
ment of the entire Christ, the undivided Saviour. 

Profound and insurmountable antitheses of religious thought and 
practice, defying the discriminating power of the human understanding! 

In vain the Swiss sought to establish a cordial union, notwithstanding 
these differences, or rather rising above them. " There are no people 
on earth with whom I would more willingly be united than those of 
Wittenberg !" cried Zwingli in tears. " Ye have a different spirit from 
ours!" was Luther's implacable' reply. " Conscience is a shy thing; 
therefore we must not act lightly in such great matters, nor introduce 
any thing new, unless we have the distinct word of God for it. We 
deem, truly, that our opponents mean well; but it will be seen that 
their arguments do not satisfy conscience, as opposed to the meaning of 
the words, This is my body.'" 

Even a Christian and brotherly union was rejected. " To-day," says 
Luther, " the Landgrave proposed that we should, although maintaining 




."•". j^__." 



p. 36 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 37 



different opinions, still keep together as brethren and members in Christ. 
But we want not such brethren or members : let us, however, have peace 
and goodwill !" 

To the left of the picture, Melanchthon and CEcolampad are con- 
versing; behind them, Philip of Hesse and Ulrich of Wurtemberg follow 
the conversation between Luther and Zwingli with extreme attention ; 
to the right, several other theologians belonging to the two contending 
parties sit under the portrait of the peaceable Frederick the Wise. 



No. XXXI. 



ABOVE, LUTHER PRAYING. PRINCIPAL SCENE, THE PRESENTATION 
OF THE AUGSBURG CONFESSION, 1530. 

That which had been heard thirteen years before at Wittenberg, on 
the 81st of October 1517, like the voice of a watchman at midnight, 
was in full daylight, on the 25th of June 1580, proclaimed at the court 
of the Bishop of Augsburg, before the Emperor and the country, as the 
stedfast conviction of many thousand German hearts. 

" Great is my joy," says Luther, " to have lived till this hour, 
when Christ is proclaimed by such confessors, before such an assem- 
bly, through so glorious a confession ! Now the word is fulfilled : ( I 
will speak of thy testimony also before kings.' The other also will be 
fulfilled : ' Thou hast not let me be put to shame ;' for ' whosoever shall 
confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father who 
is in heaven.' " 

In this spirit he comforted his friends with the most joyful con- 
fidence : " Ye have confessed Christ Jesus ; ye have offered peace, ren- 
dered obedience to the Emperor, borne evil, have been covered with 
contumely, and have not returned evil for evil. To sum up all, ye 
have worthily carried on the sacred work as it becometh his saints. 
Look up, and lift up your heads, for your deliverance is nigh !" 

Being in the castle at Coburg — which, from a Sinai, he intended to 
make his Sion — Luther could only in the spirit and in prayer be present 
with his friends during the decisive hours at Augsburg. 

" With sighs and prayer," he writes to Melanchthon, " I am in truth 
faithfully by your side. The cause concerns me also, indeed more than 

E 



38 MARTIN LUTHER, 



any of you; and it has not been begun lightly or wickedly, or for the 
sake of honours or worldly good ; in this the Holy Ghost is my witness, 
and the cause itself has shown it until now. If we fall, Christ falls with 
us, he, the ruler of the world ; and though he should fall, I would rather 
fall with Christ than stand with the Emperor. Christ is the conqueror 
of the world ; that is not false, I know ! Why then should we fear the 
conquered world, as if it were the conqueror ?" 

A witness, Yeit Dietrich, says that he prayed with such reverence, 
that it could be seen he spoke to God ; and yet at the same time with 
such faith and hope, that it seemed as if he addressed a father and friend. 
" I know," he prayed, " that thou art our God and father ; I am there- 
fore sure that thou wilt bring to shame the persecutors of thy children. 
If thou do not, the danger is as well thine as ours. The whole cause is 
thine own. We have been forced to put our hands to the work ; mayest 
thou protect it now !" 

The artist has grouped the Reformers to the left, and the Catholics 
to the right of the spectator. There stands Melanchthon, with his care- 
worn, thoughtful countenance, full of grief over the impending separa- 
tion of the churches; beside him, with hands folded in prayer, the 
elector, John the Constant ; behind him, the margrave, George of 
Brandenburg ; and, leaning on his sword, Philip of Hesse. Before the 
Emperor stands the chancellor, Christian Baier, reading with a loud 
voice the evangelical confession. On the stairs in the background, the 
people are seen pushing in, and listening with attention. Above, in the 
gothic arch, Luther is seen in prayer. In the lower compartment appear 
Luther's and Melanchthon's coats-of-arms, connected by a band, on which 
we read Luther's motto of those days, taken from his favourite Psalm : 
Non moriar, sed vkam, " I shall not die, but live, and declare the works 
of the Lord." Such was the presentiment of his soul regarding himself 
and his mission. 



No. XXXII. 

THE TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. 

The members of the evangelical church had published their general 
confession at Augsburg. It is true the source of this confession could 




XXXII. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 39 



only be found in the Bible ; and the Bible became their property only 
through Luther's translation. 

" This is one of the greatest miracles," says Mathesius, " which our 
Lord has caused to be performed, by Dr. Martin Luther, before the end 
of the world, that he giveth us Germans a very beautiful version of 
the Bible, and explaineth to us his eternal divine nature, and his mer- 
ciful will, in good intelligible German w r ords. 

" When the whole German Bible had been published, Dr. Luther 
began anew to revise it with great zeal, industry, and prayer. And as 
the Son of God had promised, that ' where two or three were gathered 
together in his name, he would be in the midst of them,' he caused 
a sanhedrim, as it were, of the best people then about him to assemble 
weekly, for a few hours before supper, at his house; namely, Dr. Bugen- 
hagen, Dr. Justus Jonas, Dr. Kreuziger, Melanchthon, Mattheus Auro- 
gallus, and also George Rorer the corrector. These were frequently 
joined by strange doctors and other learned men, Dr. Bernhard Ziegler, 
Dr. Forstenius, and others. 

" After our doctor had looked through the published Bible, and 
consulted Jews and foreign philologists, and had also inquired among 
old German persons for fitting German words, he joined the above 
assembly with his Latin and new German Bible ; he had also the 
Hebrew text always with him. Melanchthon brought the Greek text; 
Dr. Kreuziger, both the Hebrew and the Chaldee Bibles. The pro- 
fessors had several tables beside them ; and Doctor Pomacer had also 
a Latin text before him. Every one had previously prepared himself 
by studying the text. Then Luther, as president, proposed a passage, 
and collected the votes, and heard what each one had to say on it, ac- 
cording to the peculiarity of the language, and the interpretation of 
the old doctors." 

In the picture, Luther stands between Melanchthon and Bugenhagen ; 
to the left, looking up at Luther, Jonas ; beside him, Dr. Forstenius ; 
and to the right, Dr. Kreuziger, conversing with the rabbis. 

The artist has given an appearance of peculiar pentecost-like so- 
lemnity to the scene ; and properly so, for it was one of the most 
important and dignified synods in the history of the Christian church. 



40 MAKTIN LUTHER, 



No. XXXIII. 

THE IMPROVEMENT OE SCHOOLS: INTRODUCTION OE THE CATECHISM. 

Among the most beautiful fruits of the reform movement was the 
religious instruction of youth in the schools of the people ; and nothing 
lay more at Luther's heart. 

"I hold that the magistrates ought to force parents to send their 
children to school. Can they not force their subjects to bear pikes and 
muskets in war-time? why not much more then to send their children to 
school? for in this instance a worse war impendeth against the detest- 
able devil, who seeketh to drain all cities and countries dry of all worthy 
people, until he have extracted the kernel, so that only the empty use- 
less shell of worthless people be left standing, whom he may play with 
and deceive as he listeth ! Therefore let all those work who can ! 
Well, my beloved Germans, I have told you enough, ye have heard 
your Prophet !" 

In this spirit he presented to the youth of his nation that master- 
piece of popular instruction in the elementary truths of Christianity, his 
Little Catechism. 

" The wretched miserable want which I witnessed formerly when I 
was still a visitor, has urged and driven me to give to this Catechism, 
or Christian teaching, such a small simple form. God help me, what 
wretchedness have I seen ! how ignorant are the common people, parti- 
cularly in the villages, of all Christian knowledge ! and how many of the 
parochial priests are unskilful and unfit, alas, to teach them ! O ye 
Bishops ! how will ye answer it unto Christ that ye have deserted the 
people thus disgracefully ?" 

It was his greatest joy and greatest restorative to see the fruits of his 
labour ripen among the new generation. " Tender youths and maidens 
grow up so well instructed in the Catechism and the Scriptures, that it 
soothes my heart to see how, at present, young boys and maidens pray 
and believe more, and can tell more of God and of Christ, than formerly, 
and even now, all foundation-convents and schools can. Young people 
like them are truly a paradise, such as the world cannot show. And all 
this the Lord buildeth ; as though he would say : ' Well, my much- 
beloved Duke Hanns, I confide to thee my noblest treasure, my cheerful 
paradise ; thou shalt be father over it, as my gardener and fosterer.' As 




XXXIII. 



p 40. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 41 



if God himself were your daily guest and ward, because his word, and 
his children who keep his word, are your daily guests and wards, and 
eat your bread." 

The picture represents the great Reformer in the midst of a number 
of children; to whom, according to the text, "Let little children come 
unto me," he expounds his Catechism, whilst Jonas is distributing the 
book among them ; and in the background are seen a circle of attentive 
schoolmasters, who are preparing themselves by listening to his teaching 
for the duties of their calling. 



No. XXXIY. 

THE SERMON. 



As Luther had translated the "Word of God for his people into their 
mother tongue ; as he had interpreted it in his elementary work for the 
understanding of children ; so did he wish to announce it to the assem- 
bled community in sermons, as an explanation, development, and appli- 
cation of the Word of God, of the revelation of God in Christ. Preach- 
ing became the principal instrument for the foundation and guidance of 
the evangelical church. The divine became from this time forward 
pre-eminently a preacher. 

" Therefore mark this, thou parochial priest and preacher ! Our 
office has now become another thing than it was under the Pope ; it is 
now real and beneficial. Therefore has it much more trouble and labour, 
danger and temptations, and with all that less reward and thanks in this 
world; but Christ himself will be our reward, so we labour faithfully." 

In the picture all the elements of evangelical worship are indicated ; 
the sacraments, by the baptismal font and the altar; music, by the organ 
and the hymn-books ; the duty of benevolence, by the poor-box. We 
are at the same time reminded of the fact, that Luther and the reno- 
vated church were entirely free from the heartless fanatical endeavour 
to exclude the arts from public worship. 

" I am not of opinion that all the arts are to be rooted out by the 
Gospel, as some ultra-divines pretend ; but would wish to see all the 
arts employed, and music particularly, in the service of Him who has 
given and created them." 



42 MARTIN LUTHER, 



No. XXXV. 

THE SACRAMENT OF THE HOLY COMMUNION IN BOTH KINDS. 

ie The word and the sacrament" was for Luther the motto and symbol 
of the true Christian church. As a pendant to the preaching, the artist 
has chosen, therefore, the most sacred rite of the evangelical community 
— the celebration of the Lord's supper in its original mode and form. 
Luther presents the cup to his elector, John Frederick, while Dr. Bugen- 
hagen breaks the bread. By retaining and insisting upon the " real pre- 
sence" in the sacrament, Luther strove to save the reformed church from 
the double danger of being either split into a number of sects uncon- 
nected with the great Christian church, or driven from its object by the 
arbitrary opinions of the schools. " Whoever doth not require and long 
for the sacrament, of him it may be feared that he despises it, and is no 
Christian ; even as he is no Christian who doth not hear and believe in 
the Gospel. But who doth not reverence the sacrament, that is a sign 
that he has no sin, no world, no death, no danger, no hell ; that is to 
say, he believeth in none, although he be sunk in them over head and 
ears. Contrariwise, he needeth not either grace, eternal life, the king- 
dom of heaven, Christ, or God." 



No. XXXVI. 

LUTHER READS THE BIBLE TO THE ELECTOR, JOHN THE CONSTANT. 

The artist, introducing us to the private life of Luther, gives us in 
the first instance a proof of the intimate relation that existed between 
the Reformer and his prince ; we see him in confidential conversation 
with the Elector John, to whom he is reading and explaining the 
Scriptures. As an individual instance, this meeting may not perhaps 
be capable of historical proof; still the picture shows in perfection the 
beautiful and unshaken unity of mind and of opinion which so closely 
connected the teacher with the prince, and of which history affords ample 
proof. It was this prince, indeed, to whom Luther addressed, in 1530, 
from Coburg to Augsburg, those incomparable words, in which the 




xxxv. 



p. 42 




XXXVI. 



p. 42 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 43 



mutual relation between the two men is so clearly reflected : " The all- 
merciful God approves himself still more merciful by making his word 
so powerful and effective in your highness's (Euer kurfdrstliclien Gnaden) 
lands. For in your dominions, it is true, there are more excellent 
preachers and clergymen, and a greater number of them, who teach 
purely and faithfully, and assist in keeping the blessed peace, than in 
any other country in the world. God our Lord, who has appointed 
your highness father and helper over this country, feedeth all through 
your office and service. Let your highness be comforted. Christ is come, 
and will confess you before his Father, as you have confessed him before 
this wicked race. I am grieved that Satan should afflict and trouble 
your heart ; he is a sorry bitter spirit, and cannot bear that the heart of 
man should rejoice or be at peace, particularly in the Lord ; how much 
less can he bear that your highness should be of good courage, since he 
well knoweth of how much importance your heart is to us all ; and not 
only to us, but to all the world ; nay, I might almost say to Heaven 
itself. Therefore we are all bound to assist your highness with prayer, 
consolations, with love, and in whatever way we can. Oh ! the young 
people will do this, who cry and call, with their innocent tongues, so 
affectingly to Heaven, and faithfully recommend your highness to the 
all-merciful God." 



No. XXXVII. 



LUTHER ON A SICK-BED, 1537, IS YISITED AND COMFORTED BY 
THE ELECTOR JOHN FREDERICK. 

In the last picture Luther appeared as the clerical servant of his 
prince ; here the son of that prince visits him kindly in his bodily afflic- 
tion. He had fallen dangerously ill at Schmalkalden, when, on the Sun- 
day Invocavit (February 1537), the Elector John Frederick visited and 
comforted him. " The good God our Lord," said that prince, much 
affected, " will be merciful unto us, and prolong your life." When 
Luther, in the fear of death, recommended the Gospel to his future 
protection, he replied : " I fear, dear Doctor, that if the Lord were to 
remove you, he would take away his precious word also ;" w T hich ob- 
servation Luther properly contradicted. At parting, John Frederick 



44 MARTIN LUTHER, 



sought to comfort him with these words : " Your wife shall be as my 
wife, and your children my children." " The pious prince," writes Luther 
to his wife, " sent messengers on foot and on horseback to fetch, at any 
and every expense, whatever might be beneficial to me ; but it was not 
to be." 

In our picture Melanchthon sits in the foreground full of anxiety 
and deep sorrow ; indeed he frequently could not restrain his tears at 
sight of his suffering friend : behind him, at the right hand of the sick 
man, stands Frederick Mykonius ; George Spalatin bends, in anxious 
thought, over the pillow of the sufferer ; the physician holds the medi- 
cine in his hand ; Hans von Dolzig stands behind the Elector. 



No. XXXVIII. 

LUTHER SITS EOR HIS PORTRAIT TO LUCAS KRANACH. 

As we owe it almost wholly to the industrious and artistic hand of 
Lucas Kranach that Luther's portrait, with its bold, strongly marked 
features, has been preserved to us, it is but a just proof of gratitude 
that our biographer-artist refers in this picture to the indefatigable 
activity of Kranach. Master Lucas is here seen sketching the portrait 
of his friend — which he afterwards copied many times. Melanchthon 
examines the features to judge of the resemblance; few had looked so 
often and so deeply into the innermost soul of the hero as he, nor ob- 
served him in such varied conditions of mind ; he was therefore sent for 
expressly to give an opinion on the portrait of his friend. Another 
friend, Spalatin, seeks to amuse Luther during the sitting, by reading 
to him. 



No. XXXIX. 

LUTHER PRAYING AT THE SICK-BED OF MELANCHTHON. 

We have seen Luther on a sick-bed, and his friends grieving beside 
him ; here we find him by the side of the suffering Melanchthon, raising 
the almost broken spirit of the sick man with the powerful words of 




p. 44 




* XXXIX. 



p 44. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 45 



life. Melanchthon had suddenly fallen sick at Weimar, while on his 
way to the monastery at Hagenau. Presentiments of death had ac- 
companied him thither ; and a mental affliction, which undermined his 
strength, threatened the speedy dissolution of the almost exhausted 
powers of life ; — his delicately strung mind was tormented by the bit- 
terest pain that can assail a poor mortal : he was at war with himself, 
for his conscience could not find rest from the reproach that he had 
not resisted more heroically the desires and demands of the Landgrave 
of Hesse, and had thus, it might be said, sanctioned, in part at least, a 
public slight offered to the evangelical church. 

At the call of the Elector, Luther and Kreuziger came to him : the 
former saw with terror the corpselike form of his friend, the failing 
eyes, the fleeting sense. " God preserve me !" he cried, i( how has the 
devil destroyed this organon /" and turning to the window, he poured 
out his anxious soul in the boldest and most glowing prayer. Words 
passed through his soul and crossed his lips which, coming from another 
mouth, might be condemned as blasphemy, but which in him arose 
from the very depth of a sublime confidence in God, and from an 
unconditional faith in the Scriptures. " This time I besought the 
Almighty with great vigour, I attacked him with his own weapons, 
quoting from Scripture all the promises I could remember, that 
prayers should be granted, and said that he must grant my prayer, if 
I was henceforth to put faith in his promises." He then took the hand 
of the sick man, saying, " Be of good courage, Philip, thou shalt not 
die ; although the Lord might see cause to kill, yet wills he not the 
death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn to him and live ! 
God hath called the greatest sinners unto mercy; how much less then 
will he cast off thee, my Philip, or destroy thee in sin and sadness ! 
Therefore do not give way to grief, do not become thine own murderer, 
but trust in the Lord, who can kill and bring to life, who can strike 
and heal again." Melanchthon would rather have passed away in sleep 
to eternal peace, than have returned to earthly strife ; but the spiri- 
tually powerful words of Luther recalled him, " No, no, Philip, thou 
must serve the Lord our God still further !" 

He recovered ; " recalled from death unto life," he says himself, 
" by divine power:" and Luther rejoicingly said, " he would bring back 
the Magister Philip, with the help of God, from the grave to cheer- 
fulness. 



46 MARTIN LUTHER, 



No. XL. 

LUTHER'S SINGING AT HOME. INTRODUCTION OE THE GERMAN 
CHURCH HYMNS AND CHANTS. 

From Luther's friends we turn to his domestic relations ; to which 
his singing at home {Cantorei im Hause) forms a fitting link of connexion, 
while it serves at the same time as a record of the immortal fame he has 
acquired by his zeal in improving German vocal church-music. 

In the picture he is represented surrounded by his children and 
friends practising the first evangelical church-melodies under the direc- 
tion of the electoral chapel-master, John Walther. To the left stands 
the cantor, to the right Mathesius. 

" 1 have," relates Walther, " sung many a delightful hour with him; 
and have often observed how our beloved friend became more and more 
cheerful as we sang, and never grew weary nor had enough of it. He 
has himself composed the chants to the Epistles and Gospels, has sung 
them to me, and asked my opinion. He kept me three weeks at Witten- 
berg, until the first German mass had been chanted in the parish church. 
I attended it, and afterwards took a copy of this first German mass with 
me to Torgau, that I might present it to the Elector. 

" At table, as well as afterwards, the Doctor sang sometimes, he also 
played the lute ; I have sung with him ; between the songs he intro- 
duced good words Once, during Advent 1538, when he had the 

singers at table with him, and they sang beautiful motettes, he said with 
emotion : ' As our Lord pours out such noble gifts upon us in this life, 
how glorious will be eternal life ! This is only materia prima, the be- 
ginning.' " (Mathesius.) 

In the preface to his first collection of sacred songs and psalms he 
says that they had been set for four voices^ because he washed " that the 
young people, who ought at all events to be instructed in music and 
other proper arts, might be rid of their improper love-songs, and learn 
something good and instructive instead ; and to find pleasure in that 
which is good, as it beseemeth young people." 




XL. 



p. 46. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 47 



No. XLT. 

LUTHER'S JOYS OF SUMMER IN THE BOSOM OF HIS FAMILY, AND 
HIS ORDINARY DINNER-GUESTS. 

The artist here presents to us Luther's summer pleasures in the 
circle of his' family; and at the same time calls attention to those 
habitual guests at his table, to whom (as indicated by the young man 
who is writing behind Luther) we owe the noting down of his table- 
talk, A garden- scene could not indeed be omitted in a series of pic- 
tures, memorials of the man whose heart ever opened in the free air, in 
the sight and enjoyment of nature ; who gladly observed and admired 
the creation with his pious, thoughtful, and poetical eye. 

He wrote to a friend who procured garden-seeds for him : t( If Satan 
and his imps rave and roar, I shall laugh at him, and admire and enjoy, to 
the Creator's praise, God's blessings in the gardens." He writes to Spala- 
tin in 1526 : " I have planted my garden and built a well, both with suc- 
cess. Come to me, and thou shalt be crowned with roses and lilies !" 

" If I live, I shall become a gardener," he once said, while in this 
humour. " The world knows neither God their creator, nor his creatures. 
Alas ! how would man, if Adam had not sinned, have recognised God in 
all his works, and loved and praised him ! Then he might have seen and 
considered the wisdom, might, and goodness of God even in the smallest 
flower ! We are at present in the dawn of a future life ; for we begin 
to recover the knowledge of creatures which we had lost through Adam's 
fall. In his creatures we recognise the power of his word ; how great 
that is ! — He said, and it was so !" 

His profoundly contemplative mind, in its heartfelt enjoyment of 
nature, looked upon creation as the divine symbolic expression of the 
Invisible and Highest. He compared the Bible, for instance, to a 
beautiful forest, " in which there is no tree at which my hand has not 
knocked." Again, he said on a fine spring day (1541) to Justus Jonas, in 
that tone of mind of mingled melancholy and undefined longing, which 
sometimes overpowers us amidst the joys of spring: "If there were 
neither sin nor death, we might be satisfied with this paradise. But all. 
shall be more beautiful still, when the old world shall have been re- 
newed, and a new spring shall open and remain for ever." 



48 



MARTIN LUTHER, 



No. XLIL 



LUTHER'S WINTER PLEASURES. 



Upon the pleasures of summer follow those of winter, — the Christ- 
mas festival; and the garden which now delights Luther's eyes are his 
children, whom he looked upon as God's greatest blessing. He ex- 
pressed this one day to his friend Justus Jonas, who admired the branch 
of a cherry-tree which hung over the table : " Why do you not consider 
this still more in your children, the fruits of your body, and who are 
more beautiful and nobler creatures of God than the fruits of any other 
tree? In them is shown the almighty power, wisdom, and art of God, 
who has made them out of nothing." 

The crossbow with which the eldest boy shoots at the apples of the 
Christmas-tree reminds us of a letter which Luther wrote in 1580, from 
Coburg, to his son, then four years old; and in which he told him of 
" the gay beautiful garden ; the many children ; the apples and pears ; 
the fine little horses with golden bridles and silver saddles ; the fifes, 
cymbals, and grand silver crossbows." 

Melanchthon is occupied with the little bowman, while "Aunt 
Lena" looks at a book with the younger boy; and the eldest girl, Mag- 
dalen, rejoices in a doll representing the angel of the Christmas festival 
— as if she had felt a presentiment of soon becoming an angel herself. 
This hint of the artist prepares us for the solemn nature of the next 
picture. 



No. XLIII. 



LUTHER BESIDE THE COFEIN OE HIS DAUGHTER MAGDALEN. 



We stand here before a sanctuary. On the altar of his God, from 
the inmost depths of his painfully struggling soul, the father gave up 
the dearest of all he possessed; — his beloved child, ripe for heaven while 
still on earth, he placed resignedly into the lap of his Creator and Re- 
deemer. On Wednesday, September 20, 1542, his Magdalen, not yet 
fourteen years old, closed her eyes for ever in the arms of her father, 




p 48. 




XLIV 



p 49. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 49 



who was praying for her. " I love her much," he said at her bedside ; 
" but if it be thy will, O God, to take her, 1 shall gladly know her to be 
with thee !" When he asked her : " Magdalen, my little daughter, thou 
wouldst gladly remain here with thy father ; but thou wilt also readily 
go to thy other Father?" the dying child replied: "Yes, dear father, 
as God wills." " My beloved Lena, thou art well bestowed," he said 
beside her coffin ; " thou shalt rise again, and shine like a star, nay, like 

the sun Indeed, I rejoice in the spirit, but sorrow in the flesh ; 

the flesh will not submit ; parting grieves us beyond all measure." And 
after the funeral he said : " My daughter is now provided for, body and 
soul. We Christians ought not to mourn ; we know that it must be 
thus: we are most fully assured of eternal life ; for God, who has pro- 
mised it us through his Son, cannot lie. God has now two saints of 
my flesh ! If I could bring my daughter to life again, and she could 
bring me a kingdom, I would not do it. Oh, she is well cared for ! 
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord ! whoever dies thus is as- 
sured of eternal life. I wish I and my children, and you all, might 
depart; for I see evil times coming." 

The great effectiveness of this picture arises from the holy peaceful- 
ness breathing in the words of the mourning father, so powerfully im- 
pressive in their solemn simplicity. We seem to hear them: "Thou 
has given, thou hast taken away; blessed be thy name !" 



No. XLIV. 

LUTHER AND HANS KOHLHASE. 

Prominently to depict the moral courage of Luther, and to show the 
great weight of his name, the artist refers to his intercourse with Hans 
Kohlhase. 

This unhappy individual, originally an honest much-respected man, 
of a strong and vigorous mind, but passionate, and with a keen percep- 
tion of justice and of his own rights, was driven to desperation by a 
series of injuries, and a denial of all redress, inflicted upon him by the 
ruling powers : he became a robber, and on several occasions acted in 
concert with the most violent opponents of the constituted authorities 
of that day. A character such as this was well calculated to inspire 



50 MARTIN LUTHER, 



Lutlier with the most lively interest ; for in the depths of his soul also 
violent passions lay hid, subdued and controlled by his higher qualities 
and by his faith. 

The Chronica of Peter Haftiti states that a warning letter which 
Luther addressed to Kohlhase, and in which he solemnly and impres- 
sively admonishes him to repentance, encouraged the outcast to go to 
Luther's house, and, without naming himself, implore for admission. 
" It occurred suddenly to Luther that this might be Kohlhase ; there- 
fore he went to the door himself, and said : ' Numquid tu es Hans 
Kohlhase?' to which the answer was, 'Jam, Domine Doctor.' Upon this 
he was let in ; and Luther conducted him solemnly to his own room, 
and sent for Master Philip (Melanchthon) and several other divines. 
These Kohlhase made acquainted with the state of his affairs ; and all 
remained with him until late at night. In the morning he confessed 
himself to Luther, received the holy communion, and promised that he 
would abstain from violence, and injure the Saxon lands no further. 
He departed, unrecognised and unobserved, from the hostelry; having 
been consoled by the promise that they (Luther and his friends) would 
advocate his cause', and bring it to a good end." When this interference 
proved unavailing, Kohlhase resumed his attempts to right himself by 
violence; and was at length taken, condemned, and executed, 1540. 

In the picture Kohlhase appears despairing ; bowing down before 
Luther only, because he could have faith in and respect him alone. 
Luther receives him seriously and compassionately; for he reads in this 
darkened mind, and perceives that a great and divine power had been 
given it, the degeneration and destruction of which he deeply laments. 



No. XLV. 

LUTHER VISITING PLAGUE PATIENTS. 

Luther, inspired by the courage which faith gives, looked death in 
the face even when it approached in the terrible guise of the plague. 
This awful disease had broken out three times in Wittenberg (1516, 
1527, 1535); and three times he remained in the midst of the danger, 
although he was pressingly requested to absent himself. 

" I hope," he wrote to Lange, in 1516, " that the world will stand, 




XL\ 



p. 50 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 51 



though Martin Luther fall. I mean to disperse the brethren in all 
directions ; but I have been posted here, and here I must remain. I do 
not say this because 1 do not fear death — for I am not the Apostle Paul, 
but only his commentator — but 1 trust God will protect me from all 
my fears." Eleven years later, when the greater number of the inhabi- 
tants had left, and the university had been removed to Jena, he cried : 
" We are not alone ; Christ and your prayers, and those of ail the saints, 
are with us ; also the holy angels, invisible, but powerful ! If it be the 
will of God that we should remain and die, our care will avail us no- 
thing. Let every one dispose his mind this way : if he be bound to 
remain and to assist his fellow-men in their death-struggles, let him 
resign himself to God, and say, ' Lord, 1 am in thy hand ; thou hast 
fixed me here ; thy will be done.' " 

On All-saints day, ten years after the indulgences had been trodden 
under foot (1527), he complained to Amsdorf : " My house is becoming 
an hospital ; Hanna, Dr. Augustin's wife, has carried the plague about 
with her, but she is now recovered ; Margaretta Mochina frightened us 
with one boil and other symptoms, but she is well again ; for my Kate 
I fear much, for she is near her lying in ; my little son also has been ill 
for the last three days. Thus there is struggle abroad and fear within 
— and both violent enough. Christ visits us sorely; the only consola- 
tion which we can oppose to the wrath of Satan is, that we have God's 
word for the salvation of our souls, even though lie destroy our bodies. 
Therefore do thou and our brethren include us in your prayers, that 
we may firmly bear the hand of God." On the 10th of December he 
writes : " I am like a dying man ; and behold, I live !" At the end of 
the year he exclaimed thankfully: " God hath shown himself wondrously 
merciful unto us." 

In the picture we see the horrors of a plague-scene. Luther adminis- 
ters the last consolations of religion to a dying woman ; she has already 
overcome the afflictions of this world, even the painful sight of her dead 
child, in the anticipation of a future life. Around her are depicted 
the different degrees of the fear of death, which stalks along in the back- 
ground as a never-ending funeral train. 



52 MARTIN LUTHER. 



No. XLVI. 

LUTHER TAKES LEAVE OF HIS FAMILY; EXPERIENCES GREAT DANGER 

DURING HIS JOURNEY; HIS RECEPTION AT THE FRONTIERS 

BY THE COUNTS OF MANSFELD. 

The man of battles begins a journey of peace : as peacemaker he 
proceeds to his home; it was, as he had felt it to be, his last journey, 
which led him to eternal peace, and to his real home. " The world 
is tired of me, and I am tiied of it; we shall part easily, as a guest 
leaves his hostelry not unwilling," 

He had twice attempted in the preceding year to adjust the quarrel 
between the Counts of Mansfeld ; and now, accompanied by his three 
sons, he started a third time (January 23d, 1546). His Katherina saw 
him depart with a sorrowful heart, as if she had a presentiment that 
she should never see him again, at least not otherwise than in his coffin. 
In vain he sought to cheer her in his letters by gay and grave remarks : 
" Read St. John and the Little Catechism, my beloved Kate, for thou 
seemest to fear for thy God as if he were not almighty, and could not 
create ten Dr. Martins, if the one old one were drowned in the Saale." 
" Do not trouble me with thine anxieties ; I have a better protector 
than thee and all the angels. He lieth in the manger, or clings to the 
breast of the Virgin, but sitteth also at the right hand of God our 
Father Almighty. Therefore rest in peace. Amen." 

He had escaped death in crossing the Saale during a flood (January 
28th), that he might depart this life a few weeks later at the very place 
where he had entered it, at Eisleben. At the frontiers of Mansfeld he 
was received by the counts with a great retinue : he went there to recon- 
cile the brothers and other relations who were at issue among them- 
selves about their worldly possessions. This task was a most painful 
one for him. " In this school," he says, (( one may learn why the Lord 
in his Gospel calls riches thorns." 



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p. 53. 



THE GERMAN REFORMER. 53 



No. XLYII. 

LUTHER'S DEATH. 

An eventful great life, of which the results are incalculable, ap- 
proaches its end ; the heart stands still, that has beaten so warmly and 
faithfully for his people, for Christianity, and for the Gospel. Shortly 
before his end he said, sighing, " Good God! I feel so anxious and 
troubled; I am going; I shall assuredly remain at Eisleben!" and then 
he prayed : " I thank thee, O God, that thou hast revealed thy beloved 
Son Jesus Christ unto me, in whom I have believed, and whom I have 
confessed and preached, and whom the sorry Pope and all godless 

people persecute O heavenly Father, although I must resign 

my body and be torn away from this life, I know that I shall be with 

thee for ever, and that no one can tear me from thy hands God 

has so loved this world," &c. The words which he repeated frequently 
during his last hours were, " Father, into thy hands I commend my 
spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O God of truth!" When Jonas and 
Ccelius asked him, " Reverend father, shall you die faithful to Christ 
and to the doctrine you have preached?" he answered distinctly, " Yes." 
This word was his last on earth, spoken in the first hour of February 
the 18th, 1546. ' 

In the picture his two sons kneel beside their dying parent ; his faith- 
ful friend and companion, Dr. Justus Jonas, addresses his last words to 
him ; Michael Ccelius prays for the preservation of the beloved life ; the 
physician, Simon Wild, holds the now useless medicine-bottle in his 
hand ; to the right stand Count Albrecht and his wife, for whose sake 
the weary warrior had undertaken this troublesome winter journey. 

Below, Master Lukas Fortenagel, from Halle, is kneeling at the 
coffin of the departed, whose portrait he is about to take. Above, the 
swan prophesied by Huss rises anew from the flames. 



No. XLVIIT. 

LUTHER'S OBSEQUIES. 



Once more we stand at Wittenberg before Luther; but the elo- 
quent lips are silent, the eye is closed which once he raised with holy 

a 



54 MARTIN LUTHER. 



confidence to the emperor and the country, to the pope and the car- 
dinals ; he is silent for ever in the church to which he had affixed 
thirty years before a word that was to shake the world. His body had 
been carried, as ordered by the Elector, in solemn procession from 
Eisleben to Wittenberg, that a place of rest might be prepared for it 
in the electoral chapel. Next to the coffin stands his friend Melanch- 
thon, who had during twenty-eight years fought indefatigably by his 
side. On the morning of the 19th of February he had, deeply affected 
by the news of the death, pronounced in his lecture-room, with few but 
emphatic words, the testimony of history and of the Protestant world 
upon the departed : " The doctrine of the forgiveness of sins and of 
faith in the Son of God has not been discovered by any human under- 
standing, but has been revealed unto us by God through this man, whom 
He had raised up." On the day of the funeral also, after Dr. Biigen- 
hagen had preached, he once more bore witness to the value of the 
labours of the departed: " His doctrine does not consist in rebellious 
opinions made known with violence ; it is rather an interpretation of the 
divine will and of the true worship of God, an explanation of the 
Scriptures, a seririon of the word of God, namely, the Gospel of Christ. 
.... Now he is united with the prophets, of whom he loved to talk ; 
now they greet him as their fellow- labourer, and with him thank the 
Lord who collects and maintains his church." 

Three times has the centenary festival of his death been celebrated 
in Wittenberg, but still Germany and the German evangelical church 
await a second Luther. To many has been given the power to develop 
in an equal or a higher degree some one single feature of his sublime 
being ; but where find a second time that inexhaustible depth of faith, 
with the same irresistible command of the popular language, united to 
the same strength of will and readiness for action ? where this blessed 
absorbing in God, with the power of ruling mankind ? where find once 
more that union of qualities, the non-existence of which as thus 
united has constituted for centuries the hereditary want of Germany ? 
Even to-day we still ask this at the grave of the German reformer. 



SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



A SKETCH 



REFORMATION IN GERMANY 



The most important distinction between ancient and modern times is 
the idea of God and the world; for the most essential part, the very 
soul of an individual, of a nation, and of humanity, reveals itself in the 
highest object of their aspirations, of their will and their love ; — to be 
brief, it reveals itself in the inquiry after the highest good, after the 
living God. 

We perceive as the universal feature of the ages before Christ, that 
men sought God in the world exclusively, that the world was their 
God : now as creative nature, the all-encompassing power, the eternally 
renewing life of the universe; now as perfect form, as corporeal beauty 
and symmetry; or as the enjoyment of intellectual beauty; or as reason, 
the clear thought complete in itself; or finally, as a community of law 
and of power in the state. 

Between ancient and modern nations we find a people which recog- 
nises God not only in the world, but above it, and thus becomes the 
precursor of a new epoch. In another respect this people belongs still 
to ancient times ; for the wishes of the majority are deeply rooted in the 
visible and perishable world, so that its God appears rather like an ex- 
ternal ordinance, and not yet as the abstract idea of love. The highest 
spiritual representatives, the prophets and poets, and the whole history 
of this people in the closest connexion, point all the more urgently t© a 
Being divinely great and new in the coming time. 

When that olden time reached its full development, when all its 
latent instincts entered into reality, now symbolically, now actively in 



58 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

deeds, then only could the great imperishable meaning of all these 
indications, as also their tendency, which was unsatisfactory and seduc- 
tive to the last degree, be placed in the clear light of history. It must 
become evident that all the power and fulness of corporeal existence, 
all perishable beauty and reason, all political activity and moral law, do 
not in themselves alone bear the indestructible germ of life, that they 
can give no answer to the last decisive questions. 



The era which divides the old from the new epoch began when man 
recognised the Divinity no longer in the world, but found the world in 
God and through Him ; when the Divinity appeared to him no longer 
merely as nature, reason, or law, but as the original source and revela- 
tion of the most holy love, as " without controversy, the mystery of 
godliness, God manifest in the flesh." 

This revelation began with the announcement, " The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand :" a new life was to open before the human race ; it 
was to be led by new paths towards its highest goal ; these paths, as well 
as this end, had become a man, had become a person, a history, a divine 
word and divine act, the Saviour of the world. When divine Love 
descended as Saviour into the world in human form, it raised man again, 
through the greatest and freest sacrifice, to his first divine destination. 

If we look upon the origin of Christianity as the word and deed of 
divine love, as the salvation and renovation of humanity, embracing 
all future times, we shall see in the essence of all modern history only 
the one grand struggle which the Christian spirit has had to maintain 
against the selfish spirit of this world; the development of the new 
life upon which the world had entered, which strives to pervade, reform, 
and animate all the modes of existence. 



The reformatory spirit of the new epoch entered into history at first 
as a dominant power, as the exuberant fulness of a higher light and life: 
it was that great and unparalleled event of the day of Pentecost, in 
which the past and the future gloriously became one. The new divine 
life appeared to the human mind as one in its depth, but manifold in its 
revelation and adaptation: — to the human conscience, as reconciliation 
of the divine Creator to man's sinful race ; to the heart, as salvation 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 59 

from a shattered and disordered existence ; to trie plain childlike mind 
and to the abstract thinker, as the mystery of compassionate and omni- 
present love. As the Master said: " I am the way, the truth, and the 
life." 

That life, when opposed to the then existing forms of the world, had 
on its first appearance to confine itself within itself, as a separate circle, 
as a community divided from the rest of the world ; its inherent power 
and depth were to be developed, before it could pervade the diversified 
movements of the time. 

In the first instance, the spirit of Christianity had free course only in 
the family circle and the religious community ; the other sections of 
common life, the state and the school, continued imbued with the spirit 
of this world, in its ungodly emptiness and exclusiveness. But the 
Christian idea was soon to embrace all science, and begin to gather to 
itself the " treasures of wisdom and knowledge" which had been pro- 
mised, so that the great word of the apostle might be fulfilled: "All 
are yours." 

The last step remained to be taken, — to throw open to Christianity, 
now grown strong and tried in the storms of time, the arena of the 
state ; when this was done, the Christian state-church came into exist- 
ence. This was a step of immeasurable importance, bitterly wept over 
by thousands since then as the root of future corruption, as a victory of 
worldliness ; but loudly applauded by others as the spiritualisation of 
the state, as the foundation-stone of the reconcilation between state and 
Christian polity, between God and the world. 

But at that time so much is certain, — men were yet far from that 
highest end of temporal development. How different would the results 
have been, if the empire of Constantine and the civilisation of the period 
had been pervaded in its inmost veins and nerves by the original spirit 
of Christianity ! The Roman empire was like a worn-out old man who 
has wasted his strength in wickedness : he is allowed time for repent- 
ance ; but a fresh creation, the fulness of life, the freshness of soul, are 
denied him. Rome, however, by her political organisation and civilisa- 
tion, was destined by Providence as the fitting vessel to receive and con- 
tain the eternal treasure, and deliver it over to coming times. 



60 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 

Under the shocks of the invading Germanic nations, the Roman 
empire fell into ruins. What would then have become of the world, if 
these untamed savage nations had not been met by at least one power 
capable of civilising and training them for a higher bond of union ? It 
is true, Christianity did not appear to them in its original simple and 
pure form ; it had adopted more imposing forms, and the splendours of 
worldly dignity ; and these splendours, these forms, it borrowed from 
the state, when it became a state-church. To gain over the world more 
easily and quickly, the church had not disdained a close alliance with 
the old Roman spirit of conquest and organisation ; thus she appeared 
before the victorious Germanic nations, who learnt to bow down to her 
spiritual superiority. 

The old empire of Rome arose again as the church of Rome ; the 
vanquished ruler of the world flourished anew as the papacy. In Rome, 
and among the people subject to the Roman sway, the tie was formed 
which was to keep Europe together, no longer as a temporal state, but 
as a spiritual organisation, as a Christian church. All political power, 
on the contrary, rested almost entirely with the Germanic nations. In 
all directions arose warlike feudal states, consisting of triumphant con- 
querors and enslaved subjects. 

Thus, in the middle ages, a twofold conquest, a mutual subjection, 
had been accomplished of the Germanic nations through the church of 
Rome, and of the nations subject to Rome through the Germanic state. 
Under the papacy as in the empire, in the Roman hierarchy and in the 
feudal power of Germany, the two highest points of development in the 
middle ages had been attained. 

These two dominant powers, both so strong and so assuming, could 
not fail to quarrel one with the other. Thus arose that struggle which 
for centuries continued to shake the world, the temporal and the spi- 
ritual powers, which the emperors of the Frankonian and the Hohen- 
stauffen races, and the Innocents and the Gregories.. carried on with 
changing fortunes ; a struggle w T hich gave rise to the theory of the spiri- 
tual and the temporal sword, or to that popish theory of the church 
being the ruling spirit of the body politic ; while in embittered oppo- 
nents of church dominion it excited the suspicion that Christianity 
itself was but a political invention. Minds more noble and religious 
sought for the source of the existing confusion and deterioration in 
the perversion of Christianity to the state-church by Constantine. Wal- 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 61 

ter of the Vogelweide, for instance, the poet of his time, on occasion 
of Constantine bestowing great gifts on the papal chair, causes an angel 
to lament, " that formerly Christianity stood beauteous in its chastity ; 
but now a gift was granted it which would convert its honey into gall, 
to the misfortune of the world." 

The struggle had brought on exhaustion, but no solution of the 
two most profound problems regarding humanity, whose temporal and 
eternal destiny was left undecided and uncomprehended. 



The church of the middle ages had undoubtedly great, indisputable 
merits in relation to the Christian world; only ignorance or irreligious 
stupidity could mistake or despise them. The powerful but unrestrained 
and savage nature of the victorious races was prepared by the church for 
a higher morality and an advance in civilisation ; the emblematical lan- 
guage of the prevailing visible worship in which Christianity clothed 
itself made a deep impression on the feelings and the imagination of 
these children of nature. Even in this emblematical language, and in 
this form of religion, the tacit promise was conveyed of a future more 
spiritual faith. 

Nor must it be considered a less important benefit to European 
development and civilisation, that in a strongly organised church, in 
a hierarchy established on the monarchical principle, a spiritual and 
moral bond was formed, which enchained all European nations in one 
common union of faith and progress. 

With this acknowledgment of what the church of the middle ages 
has accomplished, we by no means say that its profounder ideas were 
realised. As yet the Christian spirit had, upon the whole, only been 
outwardly understood as a symbol, an ordinance ; while life, the world 
in its multifariousness and liberty, was not yet truly impressed and 
influenced by it. 

There was no want of great attempts to attain this last object. 
Chivalry and monachism were, in their origin, nothing less than bold 
efforts to make good the Christian spirit in practical life and in over- 
coming the world. The spirit of chivalry in its most flourishing time 
sought to raise active life to a higher moral standard by a powerful and 
inspired devotedness to honour, fidelity, and love. By reverence of the 
holy and beautiful, by protecting the weak and helpless, chivalry sought 



62 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



Christian consecration, which afterwards found a higher object in the 
defence and extension of the Christian faith through the spiritual orders 
of knighthood, and reached its highest elevation in the Crusades. 

Monachism, on the contrary, proceeded from the notion, that the 
material world, notwithstanding all the victories of the church, was still 
lying in darkness, that the problem of the inward change of the human 
race through Christianity remained unsolved. To attack this evil at 
the very root, men resolved upon an open and unconditional rupture 
with the world, upon an unconditional subjection and annihilation of all 
that is worldly in man's nature : love of liberty and desire of dominion 
were sacrificed to obedience, personal possessions to vows of poverty, 
and sensual enjoyment to self-mortification. The original idea of mon- 
achism was (who could mistake, it !) an energetic conception of Chris- 
tianity as the religion of the cross, — a giving up of the world. Erring 
in the choice of means, equally erring and leading to error in the con- 
ception of its object, it was nevertheless a grand attempt at achieving 
a more real victory over the world. 

But both chivalry and monachism had their time: first blossom, then 
decay ; attempts at renovation, and a relapse. As the spirit of chi- 
valry subsided at last into barbarism and absurdity, or the polish of the 
courtier ; so monachism sank anew, under the weight of the riches and 
indulgences with which it had loaded itself, into the very depths of that 
worldliness whence it had so strenuously attempted to extricate man- 
kind. Both these attempts at Christian improvement, at a victory over 
this world, ended alike in the very reverse of that which had been their 
original object. 

We return once more to our previous conclusion : the highest 
task of Christianity remained unaccomplished at the end of the middle 
ages, and its fundamental ideas were only half understood. In the 
unbounded striving after worldly dominion, the church of the priests, 
after having fulfilled one great destiny, had lost sight of its true 
aim. It was, in close connexion with these spiritual errors, given up 
also outwardly to the most immoral worldly practices. But one loud 
cry of indignation is heard throughout the period at this demoralisa- 
tion. " Never," so mourns the noblest German poet of the thirteenth 
century, "was Christianity so entirely sunk in error: those who ought 
to teach the people are abhorred by God, and sin without fear ; they 
show us the way to heaven, and themselves go to hell ; their words 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 63 

they say we may follow, but not their steps. We all complain that 
our father the Pope confuses us, and yet, like a father, he shows us an 
example ; we follow him, and depart not from his footsteps : if he be 
avaricious, all are avaricious with him ; if he lie, we all lie to ; if he 
cheat, we also cheat. The shepherd has become a wolf ; young Judas 
as bad as the old ; the treasurer of God has stolen his heavenly hoard 
from him; he has falsified the word of God, and resisted his work!" 
Similar and stronger lamentations we find in the poets of those days 
in southern France. In Italy itself, Dante, in his Divina Commedia, 
speaks with rebuking wrath of " the lord and protector of the new 
Pharisees in the Lateran;" and Petrarch depicts the papal court at 
Avignon in the darkest colours, as the kingdom of Greed, where " no 
crime was feared, so money could be gained thereby ; where the hope 
of a future life was called a vain fable; where the punishment of hell, 
resurrection, and the last judgment, were accounted children's tales; 
where truth was called madness, self-denial coarseness, and chastity a 
reproach !" 

The state also, in consequence of the struggle against the tyranny 
and greed of the church, had already begun to withdraw itself here 
and there, not only from priestly, bat also from religious and moral 
influence ; and to strive for a position and an importance, sufficient 
in itself and independent, confined to merely perishable objects, and 
totally disconnected from all the eternal principles of existence. From 
these ideas arose the Italian policy, in the same country which had 
become the centre of the church in its perfect worldliness ; a policy 
which, in its complete and conscious desertion of all divine motives, 
all the moral restraints of life, represents the summit of unbounded 
and self-complacent worldliness. 

If the Christian spirit were to continue its work for humanity, it 
must create new instruments for the task, and through them give a 
new form to the world. 

As Christianity had at its first appearance kept itself secluded from 
the world, so long as that world was in open opposition to its spirit ; 
so it now broke away from the church of Rome, the external form it 
had hitherto assumed, because she had become opposed to its true 
nature through perversion and servility. 

The original spirit of Christianity separating under severe struggles 



64 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

from its first historical form, had to build its church anew in the sanc- 
tuary of the soul, and seek its home in the depth of the individual, 
thence to arise as a purified community. 

Now, when the earlier communities of church and state had more 
and more lost their former beneficial influence, and the creation of a 
completely heathenish body politic was threatened, by the side of which 
the church would have stood insignificant and ineffectual, — how immea- 
surably important was it, that exactly at this moment of religious and 
moral dissolution, a spiritual power should be called forth which led 
back the worldly spirit to its eternal source, and undertook to regulate 
and raise the life and feelings of nations by divine authority ! This 
return to fundamental principles, when contemplated in all its bearings, 
was precisely the deepest significance of the epoch before the .Refor- 
mation. 

Through the opening clouds the genius of religion and humanity 
looked once more towards that eminence which is its ultimate destina- 
tion. The development of man through Christianity attained its ma- 
turity ; that which had hitherto been given to the youthful mind of 
the people in images frequently significant, frequently distorted, and 
in obscure promises, was now to be offered to the longing spirit as 
its own possession, as its true blessedness ; and thus, as the rightful pri- 
vilege of the heart, enter the world again, purifying and renovating it 
from within. From the days of the Reformation to our own, we see, 
therefore, only one intimately connected period, which is yet far from 
its conclusion. 

When the Christian spirit abandoned its first strong but merely 
outward worldly form, to address itself, confiding in its spiritual power, 
to the minds of men, it undoubtedly entered upon the open sea of life, 
and exposed itself to all the storms of human passion, uncertainty, and 
vacillation. As every great revolution throws doubts on all that pre- 
viously existed, so there arose with the Reformation also great dangers 
for the spiritual nature and undisturbed organic development of Chris- 
tianity; having lost its outward influence previously, its moral weight 
only could be threatened, when it was overwhelmed by the new instincts 
and desires, the new ideas and convictions of a differently constituted 
period. 

These dangers showed themselves in their full extent, when, at a 
later period, the self-seeking, worldly, and carnal interests appeared 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 65 

almost exclusively in the foreground, and faith was degraded in the 
systems of politicians to a cipher, until by degrees most of the de- 
partments of private, political, and ecclesiastical life, in mutual conflict, 
in forgetfulness of their high origin, and in selfish isolation, withered 
or disappeared in lingering dissolving corruption. And yet the Chris- 
tian spirit need not have recoiled affrighted from all these dangers; 
for, to prove the irresistible power of its divine nature, it had to con- 
tend, even in a modest form (such as it assumed at the Reformation), 
against all the spiritual and temporal powers of the world, and secure 
of victory, to strive arduously for development during centuries. 

Only to a strong original mind deeply imbued with religion could a 
great historical force of so deeply spiritual a nature as the Reformation 
owe its existence. 

Luther, by the peculiarity of his natural abilities and of his mind, 
as well as by the direction of his spiritual and worldly experiences, was 
called upon to become the spiritual instrument of this great reforma- 
tory power ; all the important efforts for improvement of the century 
pervaded his soul in living unity, as the germinating force and the sug- 
gestive watchword of a new era. 



PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 



We have intentionally described these pages, in which the striking 
picture of the Reformer of Germany is to be worthily exhibited, as 
mere historical sketches ; because we wished to remind every reader at 
the outset, that it is not our intention to add one more to the many 
biographies of our great man, and to repeat all that has been already 
related so many times, so thoroughly and minutely. Our principal 
endeavour is, rather to work out the rich abundance of historical facts, 
and to arrange them in large, easily comprehended groups, so that the 
true essential importance of the Reformer and of his work for his time and 
for our own may be depicted in them to the life. His importance for 
his time and for our own! these words point to the second peculiarity of 
our task, certainly not the easiest, but perhaps the most important. 



66 A. SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

The two divisions of our first sketch represent the fundamental 
principle of the Reformation before Luther and in Luther : first, those 
imposing spiritual and religious movements in the fourteenth and fif- 
teenth centuries, in which the want of a vivifying and purifying change 
announced itself more and more urgently, and in varied forms; and 
then the preparation for this change itself in the mind of Luther. 



THE REFORMATION BEFORE LUTHER. 

The fifteenth century bore a new order of things in its womb, 
which, growing out of the gradual decay of the creations of the middle 
ages, now awaited with increasing struggles the hour of its birth ; but 
this hour, although announced by so many and significant signs, was 
slow in appearing. A new era working itself forth out of a former 
one is an extraordinary spectacle: amidst fierce labours and struggles 
it tries to assume a new form, and yet cannot find the certain central 
point round which the new state of things is eventually to be or- 
ganised and established victoriously and irrevocably. In the revolution 
which had been begun, religion and mental culture occupied the most 
prominent place : the want of a purification of religious faith and life, 
or, as it was then called, a reformation of the church in its head and 
members, became the general cry, the eager demand of all Christians ; 
and never had there been stronger and more urgent reasons for this 
demand. 

The whole order of church-government, as established in the middle 
ages through the papacy, in its influence on the minds and lives of the 
people, had been entirely unhinged ; instead of representing the king- 
dom of heaven upon earth, according to its original design, it fell into 
annihilating contradiction with the very essence of its existence, and 
with the most important foundations of all higher moral order. A more 
fearful and depressing spectacle can scarcely be imagined, than an estab- 
lishment intended to guide and govern religious interests, meant as a 
blessing, turned into a curse by the wickedness of men. Such was, at 
the time of which we speak, the condition of society in Europe : men 
felt the net in which they were caught, but seemed powerless to break 
through it, new meshes ever being woven as soon as the old ones were 
torn asunder. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



G7 



Religious faith had hitherto represented the clergy ideally as the 
mediators between God and man, and monastic life as the highest moral 
elevation of mankind ; but now the actual state of things showed, to 
all that could see, the most offensive and disgusting caricature of this 
ideal. The clergy of all grades, from the Pope to the meanest priest, 
intended to be the defenders of religion, had sunk (at least, the great 
majority of them) into the very lowest depth of depravity. Upon this 
point only one voice is heard among all serious observers of the time. 

Popedom had celebrated its triumphs, through its most powerful 
representatives, in the subjection of the temporal states, and in strictly 
carrying out a system of absolute uniform power. But as early as 
the fourteenth century a double defeat had followed upon these vic- 
tories ; namely, oppressive dependence upon a temporal power (France), 
and the destruction of monarchical unity, by the struggles of several 
pretenders to the papal crown. The highest clerical power thus de- 
stroyed itself, ere any of its subjects dared to lay hand on it ; indeed, 
authority firmly rooted in the mind usually falls only by undermining 
its own power. Still, if these two defeats had been all, popedom 
might have recovered from them ; but by its representatives and by 
its system, it destroyed all moral faith in both ; and such moral self- 
destruction must lead eventually to external ruin. 

The papacy, we say, destroyed itself by its system and representa- 
tives. The system bore on its front a conscious and unconditional sel- 
fishness, which was stamped especially by the most shameless service of 
mammon. Judas Iscariot had apparently taken the place of St. Peter. 
The same spirit which betrayed the Saviour of the world now be- 
trayed the Christian church. In the fourteenth and fifteenth cen- 
turies the venality of the popes and their courts had become prover- 
bial. " Dear lord and master," wrote the ambassador of the Teutonic 
order in the year 1420, to Prussia, "ye must send money; for here 
at court all friendship's at an end when the money's spent." Again : 
" Whoever wants any thing done here must first give money or money's 
worth, and lay it in the scales. I thought, when I left Prussia, that 
whoever could undauntedly speak the truth here must and ought to 
obtain his right; but without money, this will not be the case. It 
is the common way of the world here, — the more money, the better 
right. Greed is predominant at the court of Rome, and seeks, by new 
tricks and arts, to squeeze out day by day more money from Ger- 



68 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 

many for the church fiefs ; and great outcries and complaints ensue, and 
a great dispute about the power of the Pope may be the result ; indeed, 
all obedience may be refused him, that all the money need no longer be 
carried away from us to the Italians : this last, I learn, would cause 
great satisfaction in many quarters." Thus we hear out of the mouth 
of a German, a hundred years before Luther, the anticipation of a 
future secession from Rome. " Do not fear excommunication so 
greatly," says another account from the same embassy, in 1429 ; " the 
devil is not so black as he is often painted, and excommunication is not 
so terrible as the Popes make it out to us. In Italy, even the lords and 
princes and cities, who are dependent on the Pope, do not fear unjust 
excommunication any longer ; nor do they like the Pope much in Italy, 
only so far as he behaves well to them, and no further. We poor Ger- 
mans alone still imagine him to be an earthly divinity : it were better 
we thought him an earthly devil, as he really and truly is!" ... . 
" It had been better for me," exclaims another ambassador from Prus- 
sia, in 1447, in the most violent indignation, " that I had had my throat 
cut at Stargard when I was in danger of it, so had not come hither 
into all this misery and sorrow, nor witnessed all these sins." 

A state of corruption such as this could not have existed in the 
church of Rome, if it had not begun, like an infectious plague, among 
the highest princes of the church themselves. Every one knows the 
melancholy notoriety attained by individual popes in the fifteenth cen- 
tury. From John XXIII. (1400) to Alexander (1492-1503), a line of 
princes occupied the papal chair, who exhibited, with few exceptions, 
a frightful picture of the depravity of a hierarchical body, whose power 
could not be valid unless based on the confidence of nations in its 
moral worth. The popes of that period had passed through all the 
degrees of moral degeneration, — from weakness to duplicity, from 
vulgar cupidity to complete depravity. We do not intend to turn over 
again the impure pages of that history ; let it suffice to mention, that 
John XXIII. never entirely cleared himself of the accusation that he 
had poisoned his predecessor (Alexander V.), or that Innocent VIII. 
employed the advantages of his position exclusively in providing for 
his seven children. Of his successor, Alexander VI., it would be 
better to be silent, rather than depict in its true colours the history of 
a life which fills us with horror, and is a disgrace to human nature. 
Indeed, through him and his children, the name of Borgia has been 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



69 



loaded with the execration of the world; and there is not an abyss 
of crime, however monstrous, into which he and his family did not 
fall. In our time it appears astounding, nay sacrilegious, that such de- 
pravity could ever exist, without the immediate downfall of the whole 
ecclesiastical edifice. Only those who can appreciate the power of habit, 
and the strength of old historical institutions, can find the solution of 
this apparent mystery. 

What has been said of the spiritual head may be applied, almost 
without reservation, to all the other members of the priesthood, the 
great majority of whom gave to the Christian world quite as offensive 
a spectacle as their high-priest at Rome. The reciprocal influence 
between the clergy and their spiritual prince was, indeed, unavoidable 
and continuous. An iEneas Sylvius (afterwards Pius II.) could in 
those days observe facetiously, " that the sheep of Christ were now 
no longer tended, but only shorn." Perhaps he felt only half, or not 
at all, the bitter significance and the annihilating truth of his Italian 
epigram. 

The pious Abbot Ruisbrock, again, lamented that, " for a hun- 
dred wicked priests, scarcely one good one was to be found; that 
popes, bishops, and priests bent their knees for the sake of temporal 
wealth ; that visitations led to no improvements, but that every one 
concerned got that which he wanted : namely, the devil got the soul, 
the bishops the money, and the poor stupid human being momentary 
ease." 

" In my opinion," wrote an ambassador of the Teutonic order to his 
grand-master, " this only is clear, that the churches and the clergy are 
too rich by far ; it is an evil that they have more than the holy Apostles 
had : things will not be better until that which kings and princes have 
given to the church in olden times be taken away again from them." 
Thus early was an open free opinion given, that the riches of the church 
and the clergy were confided to them under certain moral conditions, 
and could therefore be reclaimed, to be used for a better purpose, 
as soon as those conditions ceased to be observed. 

Monachism offered a still stronger contrast to the ideal object of 
its founders ; and instead of practising self-denial, humility, and bro- 
therly love, the monks gave themselves up to the enjoyment of worldly 
pleasures, often in their coarsest forms. Convent life, as then under- 
stood, had become a mere living on the fat of the land in idleness and 

i 



A SKETCH OF THE RISE AKD PROGRESS 



sensuality, mostly under the cloak of hypocrisy, but often even with 
shameless audacity. One of the most respected preachers at Strasburg 
(Geiler von Kaisersberg, 1478-1516) declares openly : " Convent life 
had become a mere mockery; convents and monasteries were houses of 
seduction ; many a pious woman had entered a convent to her undoing." 
He does not hesitate to use the severe warning words : " When thou 
seest such a monk, then sign thyself with the cross, : if he be black, then 
is he the devil ; if he be white, then is he the devil's mother ; but if he 
be grey, then has he a share in both." This hard judgment of the stern 
German preacher agrees perfectly well with the testimony of the Roman 
historian Infessura. As the contemporary of Alexander VI., he assures 
us, " every one in Rome knows, alas, that monasteries have now become 
dens of moral corruption." 

So fearful and general a demoralisation of the clergy in all its de- 
grees would naturally produce the most lamentable reaction upon the 
laity. The same Geiler von Kaisersberg whom we have quoted above 
calls the prelates, with unflinching severity, the cause and origin of the 
destruction of the whole earth. " They lead astray the poor little 
sheep (Schqflein) which follow them. Whoever trusts to this broken 
reed will fall. Only Christ, the apostles, and the other saints, are the 
true pillars on which we can lean." Wishing to point out the pernicious 
influence of the bad example set by the clergy, he illustrates it in his 
popular way, by referring to the story of the peasant who is climbing 
a high tree, having a chain of others hanging to his foot, each in turn 
grasping the foot of the one above him. All are thus safe, until the first, 
rubbing his hand in absence of mind, lets go his hold, and down they all 
tumble with himself. By this peasant (Geiler explains) he meant the 
prelate, who ought to attain the summit of the tree, i. e. the height of 
Christian life, and persuade his subordinates by an active example to 
follow him ; but as soon as he withdrew heart and hand from the 
tree of life, he became guilty of the moral apostasy of the whole nation 
clinging to him. 

The sight of this demoralisation among the spiritual teachers of the 
people, produced as a natural consequence, in the one case a grievous 
want of faith, in the other the dullest superstition. Want of faith, 
among the better-educated, assumed the form of mere cold abstractions 
of the mind, or of a course of free unbridled sensuality. Among such, 
it was said (by the father of Capito, e. g.) that only a fool or a hypocrite 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



could at that time become a priest. Superstition, again, was especially 
the lot of the poorer and less-educated classes. By means of absurd 
preaching, false miracles, by a repulsive traffic in relics, and by the 
establishment of many additional shrines, they were continually taxed 
and plundered. Both these spiritual perversions — want of faith, and su- 
perstition — tended, with equal impetus, to utter demoralisation ; which 
increased so frightfully, year after year, as to call forth the bitterest and 
most despairing laments from the few noble-minded men of the period. 
Geiler, who often consoled himself, as well as others, with the hope that 
" God would soon send a man for the renovation of their corrupted re- 
ligion," had at other times to struggle against entire hopelessness: " Thou 
sayest, Can we not cause a general reformation ? I say, no ; there is no 
hope of amendment in Christendom 1" What wonder, therefore, that, 
as ever happens at the threshold of great revolutions, many serious minds 
became possessed with the idea that the end of the world and the last 
judgment were approaching ; or that others expected a second deluge ? 

An opposition to this corruption in the dominant church — ever 
becoming more and more manifest — had arisen in men's minds for 
centuries, which in many directions amounted not only to a complete 
rupture with the existing visible church, faithless to its original voca- 
tion, but fell gradually into contradiction to the fundamental ideas of 
Christian revelation. 

The violent desire to throw off all ecclesiastical authority, and to 
break through all religious restrictions, took refuge in Pantheism. Only 
beyond the reach of hierarchical despotism, and the sphere of historical 
revelation, did men hope to find freedom in those ideas which represent 
man as divine by nature, not requiring revelation or atonement. By this 
means the whole historical foundation upon which not only the church 
of Rome, but all Christianity as a church, had built itself, was overleapt 
at a bound. This was the doctrine professed at a later period by the 
Beghards* and the Brethren of the Free Spirit, in their secret meetings. 
Its practical application appeared in an endeavour to re-establish the 

* A number of artisans at Antwerp united in 1228, under this name, in the performance 
of certain religious exercises, conforming to the rule of St. Beggha, the mother of Pepin of 
Heristal. At the end of the thirteenth century they subjected themselves to the order of 
St. Francis, and at a later period became regular monks. They were exposed to many 
cruel persecutions, and but very few of their monasteries existed in the beginning of the 
eighteenth century. 



A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



original nature of man, his first innocence in paradise, and the uncon- 
ditional equality of all, through the abolition of all distinctions ; all the 
divisions among men, through family, property, community, or church, 
were to be lost in the divine unity of his original nature. Man needed 
only to understand and give an unquestioned course of action to his 
inborn divine nature, and the freedom, innocence, and equality of para- 
dise would reappear of themselves. To use a modern expression, we 
may say that this movement showed unmistakably the pantheistic com- 
munism of the close of the middle ages. 

Its principal seat in Germany was Cologne, where also Master 
Eccard (who held similar religious, if not moral views) taught. Here 
the secret meetings were held, and the immoral practices carried on, 
which would not be hidden even in the darkest retreats, and were at 
length (13^5) fully traced and capitally punished. 

From that time, the Brethren of the Free Spirit, wherever they might 
be found — on the Rhine, the Elbe, or the Baltic — were exposed to the 
severest persecutions of the church. This doctrine has since been main- 
tained in several periods — during the Reformation, in the last century, 
and in our own time, — and has always exhibited the same fundamental 
character: a complete denial of the profoundest laws of individuality, 
human and divine ; and, nearly connected with this, the rudest denial 
of the most simple and indispensable conditions of human society and 
civilisation ; a denial of the freedom of thought and of legitimate love. 

The Brethren of the Free Spirit strove, unsuccessfully and in an 
eccentric manner, for the radical reform of the church and of social 
order. There arose at the same time, and also later, a much stronger 
and more widely-spread party, which cautiously led the attack against 
existing abuses within the limits of history, on a common Christian and 
ecclesiastical ground. The principal objects of this party were reforms 
in the constitution and discipline of the church ; the remedy was there- 
fore to be sought principally in the amendment and progress of forms 
and institutions. The unlimited monarchical power in the church had 
destroyed itself so completely through schism (the co-existence and 
mutual quarrels of several popes), that the question concerning the 
legitimate origin of its supremacy forced itself naturally upon the minds 
of men. "Not in the pope alone," they said, "but in the bishops, 
the clerical councils, with or without the pope, was the true source 
of spiritual power, of ecclesiastical sovereignty, to be found." In other 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



words, the church aristocracy placed itself beside the sovereign of the 
church, and in decisive moments even above him ; placing the highest 
law-giving and judicial authority in a vicarious assembly of all Christian 
nations. 

Out of this spirit arose, in the first half of the fifteenth century, the 
great councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basle, from which Europe ex- 
pected the ultimate accomplishment of long-cherished wishes : a refor- 
mation of the head and the members ; the rooting out of crying abuses 
in the government and administration of the church. Minds were not 
lacking which conceived and occasionally gave utterance to the plan of 
a comprehensive reformation ; neither was courage wanting boldly to 
assert the extraordinary power which the voice of nations had granted. 
Popes were appointed and deposed with undoubting confidence, almost 
like presidents of an ecclesiastical republic ; and the fundamental idea 
of a permanent representative constitution, rightfully established, was 
solemnly carried out. 

And yet the efforts of these different bodies of men, although sup- 
ported by the spirit of the time and by the voice of the whole Christian 
civilised world, were fruitless. The reformation from above, longed for 
and resolved upon, was shipwrecked, partly upon the inevitable contra- 
dictions of this representative government without any firmly established 
organisation, partly upon the resistance and the cunning policy of the 
papal court, and partly upon the folly of the political powers, and the 
caprice of the peoples. A half-century of the mcst strenuous exertions, 
of the most hopeful beginnings, was apparently to end in exhaustion 
and indifference. 

At that time the way of salvation had been secured from another side ; 
not through disputes about the constitution and the doubtful boundaries 
of power between the prince of the church and his ecclesiastical parlia- 
ment, nor by means of the privileged higher classes and ranks of the 
clergy, but through individuals distinguished by their power of persuasion. 
With the irresistible power of the inspired word, they addressed all 
Christians, without any distinction of rank or calling — laymen and 
clergymen, learned and unlearned. A severe moral life, and the simpli- 
fying of the external church according to the rule of the oldest Christian 
community and of the Scriptures, were the two levers with which they 
hoped to raise Christianity to a state of purity and renovation. 

Men like Wickiffe at Oxford, Huss and Jerome at Prague, John 



A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



von Wesel at Erfurt and on the Rhine (at Mayence and Worms), and 
Savonarola at Florence, were the most important leaders of this move- 
ment. Almost all of them were martyrs to their cause ; the English 
WicklifFe alone died (1384) unmolested in his village cure, although the 
English hierarchy, at their council in London, had condemned his doc- 
trine and banished him from the university. Huss and Jerome of 
Prague suffered a martyr's death in the beginning of the century, as 
Savonarola at its end, — the two former on the banks of the Rhine, the 
other on that of the Arno ; and John von Wesel died a bowed-down 
old man in a convent prison. The papal and the representative ecclesi- 
astical powers, the court of Rome and the council of Constance, were 
agreed in their persecution and condemnation. But through these sacri- 
fices a flame was kindled which no temporal power could quench ; the 
resistance to the corruptions in the church had found a firm and im- 
movable foundation in the authority of the Scriptures as the ori- 
ginal record of revelation, also in the undying word and blood of the 
martyred witnesses to the truth. This, however, is at all times the 
mysterious ever-flowing source of every great advance in history : faith 
and sacrifice in inseparable union; the divine certainty of conviction, and 
the sealing it as a faithful sacrifice unto death; the glorifying of thought 
and of suffering in eternal love. 

Hitherto we have spoken of the great attempts at reformation in the 
fifteenth century to be obtained, here by an organic reform of ecclesi- 
astical institutions, there through individuals distinguished in the work 
of reformation ; while throughout all a practical reform of external 
clerical life, its constitution, morals, and manners, was chiefly the object. 
Now, however, we turn to quieter efforts for obtaining reform, which 
kept in view less an external than, in the first instance, an internal 
spiritual reform. In the one case (although the two cannot well be 
completely separated), the new birth of forms and of external practice 
was striven for ; in the other case, on the contrary, the regeneration of 
the spirit, heart, and mind was first and principally asserted : in the 
one case a practical, in the other a theoretical reform predominated. 
The most important testimony to the origin and internal necessity of 
these endeavours is, that the reform movements in both the above 
directions took place almost contemporaneously and with equal power ; 
for only those reforms on a larger scale bear within them the vitality 
which outlives, which are deep and rich enough to attract the two 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



opposite poles of human knowledge, the spiritual and the temporal, and 
thus satisfactorily meet the wants of an active as well as a reflective 
spirit. 

The more internal efforts at reformation had their deepest founda- 
tion in two of the most important spiritual events of the fifteenth cen- 
tury. The true spirit of Christianity, liberated from its disfigurement 
and disguise, from its fetters and materialisation, was recognised and 
estimated at its real value, in its original truth and freedom ; but this 
liberation had been rendered possible only through the greater power 
obtained by the spirit of religion, and by a more vivid comprehension of 
the original history of Christianity. This greater power of the spirit of 
religion, and this more liberal comprehension of history, must be looked 
upon as the two most powerful springs of the spiritual reforms before 
Luther. From the depths of this religious feeling, and the moral con- 
sciousness inspired by it, as well as from the oldest written documents 
dating from the establishment of the first church, the Christian spirit 
drew the means for its renovation, and the church for its second birth ; 
and never have historical knowledge and religious inspiration united in a 
nobler labour, never have knowledge and faith formed a more beautiful 
union, than in this dawn of the Reformation. 

The historical comprehension of primitive Christianity received, 
through the happy junction of favourable circumstances, an impetus such 
as had hitherto been unheard-of and impossible. The revived study 
of ancient languages, and of classical as well as biblical antiquity gene- 
rally, furnished the necessary key to the comprehension of the biblical 
records in the original tongues ; and the newly-invented art of printing 
served to spread them abroad. A more rapid circulation and an easier 
comprehension went thus hand in hand. It is well known how T much 
Germany owes on this point to men like Agricola, Reuchlin, and 
Erasmus. 

These endeavours after mere language and forms, although of incal- 
culable importance and influence, would not in themselves have opened 
the very heart of biblical antiquity, or of the original spirit of Chris- 
tianity, if the liveliest susceptibility for the mysteries of spiritual life 
and of religious feeling had not been gradually awakened in another 
direction. 

This last task was accomplished by a body of men who are ordinarily 
called the advocates of German mysticism before the Reformation. It 



A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 



is not a light undertaking, in these days of Babylonian confusion of 
tongues and ideas, to uphold this innocent expression in its original 
historical sense, against the most diversified misconstructions. In that 
free plain signification, mysticism is nothing but the religion of the 
heart and of feeling, as distinguished from that other religious, senti- 
ment which is founded, in sober cool natures, more exclusively upon 
moral perception ; in more practical natures, again, upon common sense 
and reflection. Only he who is capable of distinguishing the subtle 
essence of religion from reflective thought or active morality can con- 
ceive that peculiar state of the mind which, in history and philosophy, is 
denominated mysticism. It is the fulness of spiritual life, which, turning 
to the eternal origin of all things, derives its sustenance from the pure 
hidden sources of the soul. This religion of the heart, which, as a 
clear expression less likely to be misapprehended, we may denominate 
mysticism, rises in poetical natures on the wings of the imagination ; 
while it prevails, in minds pre-eminently moral and tenderly attuned, 
like a warm breath of feeling, as a gentle comprehension of the entire 
life of the soul. 

The G-ermaii Christian mysticism of the fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries appears, on a more general review, as the first important step 
towards the Reformation, — a first grand effort for the spiritual re-estab- 
lishment of Christianity. It is, indeed, the natural soil for the growth 
of the religious freedom and profound depth of feeling which obtained 
at the period of the Reformation ; and for a long space of time Luther 
himself is essentially indebted to it for intellectual nourishment and 
growth. It insists, on all occasions and with great emphasis, upon in- 
dividual experience, and the life of religion in the heart ; it seeks in 
the innermost depth of the soul, and by the sacrifice of an active and 
devoted love, an immediate union with the Supreme Being, immaterial 
and essential. 

Among the most important and influential German advocates of this 
movement before the Reformation are Suso and Tauler (the author of 
The German Theology) in the fourteenth, and Thomas a Kempis in the 
fifteenth century. The first two drew from the fulness of a spiritual life, 
rich in experience, such a power of living words, that they influenced 
men's minds at great distances, and produced a deep impression particu- 
larly in the cities on the Rhine, the principal scene of their labours, and 
awakened in numberless individuals a desire for higher attainments. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



Suso (lo00-1365) relates most gracefully, in his poetical style, "how 
he had a great desire to become and be called the servant of eternal 
wisdom ; and how, whenever he heard songs or words of temporal love, or 
hymns of praise and sweet music, his heart and wishes were bent upon 
'his loveliest love, from whom all love flows.' He thought: 'O God! 
if I could only once see my beloved, only once get speech of Him!' 
While he thus strove how far he might see Him with his spiritual 
eyes in the express declarations of Scripture, He manifested Himself to 
him, shining like the morning star, and like the glittering beams of 
the rising sun. His crown was eternity, his garment bliss, his word 
sweetness, his embrace the fulness of joy; He was present yet hidden, 
reaching above the highest heavens, and touching the lowest depths. 
He bent down to him lovingly, and spoke kindly : ' My son, give me 
thy heart.' Ah, heart mine, see whence floweth love and all kindli- 
ness; whence cometh all tenderness, beauty, heart-enjoyment, and loveli- 
ness. Cometh it not from the ever-flowing fountain-head of the Divinity 
itself? Plunge then my heart and mind and courage into the abyss of 
all good things ! . . . . Thus was his soul impressed with the original 
emanation of all good, in which he spiritually found all that is worthy 
of love and desire. Then he often felt like a babe held by its mother 
on her knee, her hands under its arms, striving to reach that tender 
mother by the motions of its head and body, and testifying its heartfelt 
joy by its pretty movements : thus his heart often rose to the blissful 
presence of eternal Wisdom." 

Never before Luther was this heartfelt apprehension of the Deity 
expressed in the German tongue more feelingly, more gracefully, or 
with greater poetical beauty, than in these words of Suso; the warm 
longing after the substance, not the mere shadow of religion. That 
which the greatest German poet of modern times meant to express in 
the celebrated words : 

" Man sehnt sich nach des Lebens Bachen ; 
Ach! nach des Lebens Quelle hin!"* 

had previously found the simplest and purest utterance in the mouth of 
the pious Suabian poet of the fourteenth century. 

From a mind like Suso's we may justly expect the whole poetical 

* •' We languish for the streams of life ; 

Ah ! for life's source itself !" Goethe's Faust. 

K 



A SKETCH OF THE ETSE AND PEOGRESS 



depth of a religious nature. He praises the " intelligent Aristotle, the 
virtuous heathen master," for having found evidence in the well-ordered 
course of nature of the existence of " one only Lord and Master of all 
creatures, whom we call God." 

" Mortal eye," says Suso, " cannot see him ; but he may be seen in 
his works, for his creatures are like a mirror in which God is reflected ; 
and this recognition we call, therefore, a reflecting or mirroring. So let 
us reflect upon the great high Master in his works. Look above, and 
around, to all the four quarters of the world; — how vast, how sublime 
the heavens in their swift course ! How nobly the Lord has adorned it 
with planets, and decked it with the countless number of bright stars. 
Oh ! when the beauteous sun arises cheeringly, unclouded, in the sum- 
mer-time, how beneficently it then bestows upon the earth fruits and 
all other good things ! H ow leaf and herb spring forth ! how the lovely 
flowers smile ! how wood and heath and meadow resound with the 
sweet songs of the nightingales and little birds ! how all the animals, 
shut up during the severe winter, rejoice in their release ! how all hu- 
manity, young and old, frolic joyfully with rapturous delight! Ah, 
gracious God ! if thou be so lovely in thy creatures, how entirely beau- 
tiful and delightful art thou in thyself! All cry, Praise and glory to 

thee, O Lord ! fathomless and immeasurable." " Now hast 

thou found thy God, whom thy heart has long sought. Now look 
upwards, with glistening eyes, with bright countenance and bounding 
heart, and view him, the great King of all creatures. See, such reflec- 
tions soon lead a feeling human being to rejoice; and this rejoicing is 
a delight which no tongue can express, but which powerfully fills heart 
and soul." 

In abstruse minds, such as Suso's, the religion of the heart appears, 
if we may express it thus, personal, and influences, with quiet but irre- 
sistible power, all susceptible minds that come within its range. We 
have a portraiture of his mind in his own words : "I was called the 
faithful father of the poor ; I was the particular friend of all that loved 
God ; all that came to me weary and heavy-laden ever found counsel, so 
that they parted from me cheered and comforted : for I wept with those 
that were weeping, and mourned with the mourners, until I had consoled 
them as a mother would her child. If a man wronged me ever so griev- 
ously, and only smiled on me kindly afterwards, I was ready to forgive 
him in God's name, and to forget the offence as if it never had been. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 7<J 



Even the wants and sufferings of the little birds and animals, or of any 
of God's creatures, went to my heart; and I prayed to the pitiful Lord 
on high that he would help them." 

This mildness and loving warmth of his whole character could not, 
however, prevent his being treated by worldly and hard-hearted persons 
as a strange, nay a hateful phenomenon: "he converted men," so they 
reproached him, with violent threats, " into a peculiar eccentric mode 
of life termed spiritual {der Geist) ; and those belonging to this class, 
spiritualists (Geister und Geisterinnen), the most perverse set that ever 
lived upon earth." But all this vanished before the power of his life 
and his preaching. His sermons were often so affecting, that his face 
appeared to his hearers, as one of them assures us, surrounded by a 
halo. " Mark ye," so he cried sometimes, at particularly striking pas- 
sages, in moments of enthusiasm, " the blusterer will bluster."* 

The greater power of the living and spoken word, as compared 
with the written word, he points out in a beautiful passage, quite 
characteristic of himself: "The difference is as great between a sweet 
musical instrument played upon, and hearing it only talked about ; so 
unlike are the words conceived in pure grace flowing from a living heart 
through a living mouth, to the same words written upon lifeless parch- 
ment, particularly in the vulgar tongue : in the latter case they become 
cold and weak, as a plucked rose fades and withers ; for the unction 
which touches the human soul dies away then, and the words fall upon 
the stony ground of a hard heart. Never sounded chord so sweetly > 
but is silenced if strung upon a dry board." 

The degree in which Tauler had influenced Luther is proved by the 
words of the latter to Spalatin (1516): "If thou takest pleasure in 
becoming acquainted with the true doctrine as it was received in olden 
times in. the German tongue, buy Dr. John Tauler's sermons. I have 
never met, either in German or Latin, with a sounder theology, and 
which agreed more completely with the Gospel. Taste and see how- 
good is the Lord ; if thou hast already tasted and seen how bitter all 
that is that we ourselves are." " Although," he says in another place, 
" unknown to the divines of the schools, I know that Tauler gives us 
more pure doctrine than all the books of the teachers at the univer- 
sities." 

Tauler (died 1361) knew perhaps in a yet higher degree than Suso 
* Der Seuss will saussen ; a play on the word Suso, Seuss, i.e. der Sausende, the blusterer. 



80 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

how to move the hearts of the people through his powerful preaching in 
the German language; his words frequently struck his hearers like 
lightning, and overpowered by emotion, they fell fainting to the ground. 
" Imitation of our Lord Jesus Christ" was the key-note of his doctrine, 
and gave colour to his life. Therefore did the salvation and consolation 
of individuals outweigh with him the consideration for the self-seeking 
commands of his ecclesiastical superiors ; his heart revolted against 
allowing the innocent people to die without the consolations of religion 
on account of papal excommunication. Consequently he taught them 
to distinguish between papal and divine commands : " All those who 
hold the true Christian faith, and sin only against the person of the pope, 
are not heretics ; but those are who obstinately act contrary to God's 
word, and will not amend their ways." Tauler and his friends, the 
Carthusian priest Ludolph, and Thomas, the vicar-general of the Au- 
gustus at Strasburg, taught " that the word of Christ and of the 
Apostles was more important than papal excommunication, which was 
fulminated in worldly passion only." 

" We succeeded so far," relates his contemporary Specklin, " that 
the people died in peace, and did not any longer fear excommunication 
so greatly, while formerly many thousands died without confession, in 

great despair He (Tauler) published many consolatory tracts 

to be read to the common people in their last moments, at the adminis- 
tration of the sacraments ; by which means many priests were rendered 
truly pious." 

From Tauler's connexion also issued a pamphlet in which the rela- 
tion between church and state was considered, in a sense fundamentally 
opposed to the strictly papal system which had been maintained hitherto. 
It said, " There are two kinds of swords, the one spiritual, which is 
the word of God, the other temporal authority; one independent of 
the other. But as both are of God, they cannot be opposed to each 
other. The spiritual sword acts as the word of God ; it defends God's 
ordinances and people, and punishes evil-doers. If temporal authority 
were to be condemned by spiritual authority, God would condemn his 
own work. But when a temporal chief sins, it behoves the spiritual 
authority to lead the sinner into the right way, in great humility and 
with unceasing intercession. There is no evidence in the word of God 
that all must be heretics who will not kiss the pope's feet, or that 
this is an article of faith. To the emperor, as the highest authority, 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



obedience before all others is due ; if he does not govern justly, he 
must render an account of it to God, and not to poor sinful men. 
Whoever, therefore, is unjustly excommunicated, his condemnation be- 
comes pardon before God The soul belongs to God; body and 

goods to the emperor." 

We see thus, that from this mystical and purely spiritual movement 
there sprung a resistance to the church, become utterly worldly and 
formal; — resistance founded upon a higher principle and daily experi- 
ence. It was a higher principle to appeal to Christ, to the apostles, the 
Scriptures, the councils, against the ordinances of the pope, the highest 
priestly authority ; or to appeal to the religious as well as moral power 
of the state against clerical arrogance. These were precisely the pillars 
on which Luther's edifice was to be erected. 

The above-mentioned resistance was founded, we say, also upon daily 
experience — upon the revolting spectacle of corruption in the church 
of the priests ; a spectacle which provoked even patient, self-collected 
souls to expressions of severe condemnation. The important little book, 
Of the Nine Rocks (von den neun Felsen), which perhaps originated with 
Suso, a book intended to teach inquiring souls who wish to turn to 
God the true way to find him, gives a revolting picture of the corrupt 
state of Christendom. It describes " how sadly it fared with all men, 
only a few excepted, and how all Christian order had vanished or been 

perverted Formerly the popes had been seriously anxious for 

the well-being of Christendom; but now the light of just government 
had been extinguished in them, as they sought only their own honour 
and worldly advantage. The cardinals strove only to procure worldly 
honours for their relations, or themselves to become popes ; the bishops 
loved and cared for riches, honours, and worldly power, more than for 
the souls for whom God had given his blood. There were no profes- 
sors who dared speak the truth from their chairs to warn the people, 
at the risk of their lives. The secular clergy wasted the wealth which 
had been intrusted to them for religious purposes, in incontinence, 
gormandising, and vain -glory; ail seriousness was extinct and for- 
gotten ; they had fallen into a state of complete indifference. In the 
monasteries . nothing but warfare and contention for power were met 
with. Among the mendicant friars it was rare to find one confessor 
who did not seek his own advantage in nattering the people. In con- 
vents matters had gone so far, that if one true Christian was found in 



82 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PEOGBESS 

them, he was obliged to leave on account of the language and wicked 
lives of the inmates. They derided, and even sought to destroy, any 
one really converted to eternal truth." 

When the author of the little book, Of the Nine Rocks, considers 
afterwards the conduct of the laity, he finds the same faults : among 
the princes and nobility, pride, wantonness, arrogance, and oppression ; 
among citizens and merchants, avarice, and an incessant restless desire 
for gain ; each wanted to become equal or superior to the other in 
riches, instead of being satisfied with the needful for themselves and 
their children. Of the artisans he complains, that "in their pride they 
seek to climb high above their station, and to place themselves on an 
equality with those below whom they were stationed according to the 
laws of God." The peasants he calls ignorant of all godliness, wicked 
and naughty, of a thoroughly bad heart and mind. " Among women 
all chastity and feminine modesty had vanished, so that they were more 
eager and bold for sin than the men." 

It is no wonder that such observations should waken in the mind 
of this man also the thought of approaching destruction, or of an im- 
pending brutish barbarism. " If God meant to destroy the world for 
its sins as in the time of Noah, he must do it every hour and every 
day!" 

As tokens of such judgments appeared to him the heavy afflictions 
which befell Europe somewhat more than five hundred years ago (1347- 
1848), the destructive war between church and state, and the fearful 
disease called the black sickness (schwartzer Tod), which carried off 
thousands. " God hath kindly and lovingly warned the people in these 
latter times ; but it was of no use, and he has been forgotten." He 
fears, therefore, that God would permit that one should murder the 
other, in a state of general barbarism ; for already one wanted to rise 
above the other ; sin was no longer looked upon as sin ; indeed, for 
centuries past such wickedness had not been equalled. Tauler also 
joins him in troubled warnings : " Ye people all, observe seriously 
and mark witji trembling fear the great wrath and the long-merited 
plagues of God's justice, which fall heavily upon the world in these 
days, more heavily indeed than for the last four centuries. And it is 
much to be feared that they will become inconceivably more over- 
powering and heavy." 

Among the important advocates of this mystical party are mentioned, 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 83 



besides Suso and Tauler, the author of German Divinity, and Thomas 
a Kempis. 

The little work, German Divinity, must be looked upon indis- 
putably as one of the most remarkable spiritual preparations for the 
Reformation ; as such it produced upon the mind of Luther the very 
deepest impression. " We read," he writes in his preface to the above 
work, which he republished in 1518, " that St. Paul, of weak and con- 
temptible bodily presence, wrote yet weighty and powerful letters, and 
boasts that he came not with excellence of speech and enticing words 
of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. Also, 
when one observes the words of the Lord, it is clear that fine and showy 
preachers are not always chosen to preach his word ; but it is written : 
' Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected thy 
praise.' 

" Therefore I say, that I mean to warn every one who readeth this 
little book, that he may not cause himself an injury by being offended 
at its bad German and simple style. For this excellent little book, 
poor and unadorned as it is in words and human wisdom, is neverthe- 
less rich and precious in knowledge and divine wisdom. And I speak 
foolishly, but I must say, that I have not met with any book, except the 
Bible and St. Augustin, from which I have learnt and shall learn more 
of the nature of God, Christ, mankind, and all things. Now I perceive, 
for the first time, that what several very learned men accuse us Witten- 
berg theologians of is true, namely, that we wish to introduce new 
things, saying people with such sentiments had never before existed 
any where. Yea, verily there have been such, but the wrath of God 
incurred by our sins has not deemed us worthy either to hear or see 
them ; for it is now clear as day, that in the universities nothing of 
this kind has been done, and that consequently God's holy word has 
not only been thrown aside under the bench, but almost consumed by 
dust and moths. 

" Let who will read this book, and then say whether our theology 
is new or old ; for assuredly this book is not new. It may be said, 
perhaps, that we are German divines. Let it be so ; I thank God 
that I have met with my God as I and those with me have never before 
met with him, either in Latin, Greek, or Hebrew. God grant that 
this book may become better known ; then it will be found that the 
German theologians are the best divines. Amen," 



A. SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



In old editions we find the author thus alluded to : " The almighty 
and everlasting God inspired a wise, intelligent, truthful, and upright 
man, his faithful friend a German gentleman, a priest and custos in 
the house of the Teutonic Knights at Frankfort, to write this little 
book, which teaches many a beautiful distinction in divine truth, and 
particularly how to recognise the true and faithful friend of God, and 
also the unjust, false, and faithless spirits hurtful to holy church." 

We see that Luther greets this little piece of German divinity as 
one of the purest utterances of Christian truth, as a source of know- 
ledge which, after the Bible and St. Augustin, enlightened him most on 
divine subjects. This remarkable work is indeed as pure an attempt 
as it is bold and profound to deliver Christianity from torpid forms, 
and revive its spiritual and emotional character. The earnest religious 
tendency of the German mind thus rid itself gently but firmly from 
the shackles which had hitherto impeded its progress in divine life and 
knowledge. The spiritual Christianity of the Saviour of the world rises 
thus from the infant condition of a fettered and mere formal creed, 
from the fantastic legends of saints and blind obedience to the dead 
letter of the law, ' to a free and inward religion ; the religion of the 
divine Nazarene returns to its true sanctuary, the conscience and the 
heart. 

This is the chief import of German Divinity, and on this account 
only could it occupy so important a place in the history of the develop- 
ment of the German reformer. It repeatedly and plainly insists upon 
the fundamental character it assigns to inward religious experience and 
practice, and to individual faith : " When that which is perfect is come, 
that which is imperfect shall be done away. But when will it come ? 
I say, when it is known, felt, and tasted in the soul, as far as that is 
possible to a created being." And still more evidently in contrast to a 
dead historical faith : " Also all the works and miracles which God hath 
ever wrought or may ever work in and through all creatures, or God 
himself in all his goodness, as far as it is and takes place without me, 
does not make me blessed; but only as it is and happens within me, and is 
knoivn and loved, felt and tasted by me" Sin and redemption, the 
history of Adam and Christ, the fall and the regeneration of the divine 
image in human nature, are set forth as the consecutive spiritual history 
of the human race : " Scripture, faith, and truth say sin is nothing but 
the turning away of the creature from immutable good to the mutable, 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY 



from perfection to imperfection, and in most cases to itself 

My fallen state must be restored in the same way as Adam's, and by 
the same means. God took upon himself human nature and became 
man, and man became a partaker of the divine nature. Thus is our 
regeneration secured ; and if I am to be restored from my fall, then 
the God in me must become man in me. God may take to himself all 
that is so in me from within and without, so that nothing may be within 
me which resists God or hinders his word in me. 

" In justice and in truth, man ought to lay claim to nothing, love 
nothing, or think of nothing, except God, and him alone, i.e. the 
eternal and sole-perfect Good. In a word, if a man can be towards God 
what his hand is to himself, he may rest content. This end we can 
attain only by degrees, as we gradually ascend from the knowledge and 
love of the noblest and purest of creatures to the Creator in his per- 
fection. If, then, among created beings, we attach ourselves to the 
best we can discern, we attain higher and yet higher grades, until we 
understand and perceive that the eternal and sole-perfect is immea- 
surably above all created good. 

" There is but one way to this elevation of spiritual life in God, — 
communion with Christ. Whoever does not reach that highest truth 
by the right way or the right door, that is to say, through Christ, or 
who fancies he has attained it without him, will sink into mad license 

and carelessness Neither by much inquiry, nor hearsay, nor 

by reading and study, nor by profound science, nor the learning of 
professors, nor great natural gifts of reason, can we attain true knowledge 
or the life in Christ. . . . Christ himself bears witness to this ; he says : 
' Whosoever will come after me, let him take up his cross and follow 
me.' Here he means to say : ' Whoever will not forsake and lose all 
things, can never truly know me nor attain to my life.' 

" And if the mouth of man had never spoken it, yet truth did it of 

itself, for it is so in truth No one can be enlightened, unless 

he be previously purified, cleansed, and freed ; neither can any one be 
in communion with God, unless enlightened. There are thus three 
ways, — purification, enlightenment, communion. 

" If we speak of the old and the new man, it is to be understood that 
the old man is Adam, and disobedience, selfishness, and egotism ; but the 
new man is Christ and obedience. . . . For true obedience man was and 
is created, and owes it to God ; and this obedience died and was lost in 

L 



8G A SKETCH OF THE KISE AND PROGRESS 

Adam, but rose again in Christ Indeed the human nature of 

Christ stands alone, apart from itself and from all things, as no other 
creature, and was no other than a tabernacle and habitation of God 

and of all that belongs to God Whoever lives in obedience and 

in the new man, is the brother of Christ and the child of God. ..... 

Whoever lives in disobedience lives in sin, and sin is never repented of 
nor forsaken but by returning to obedience ; and if man return to true 
obedience, then is he penitent and forgiven. And if the devil could 
attain true faith, he would become an angel, and all his sin and wicked- 
ness would be forgiven at once If it were possible for a man to be 

so wholly pure, free from self and from all things in the true obedience, 
as Christ was in his humanity, that man would be without sin, and also 
united in Christ, and he would be that by grace which Christ was by 
nature. But it is said, that cannot be ; yet it is possible for man to 

approach a divine state and to be called godly Whoever knoweth 

and understandeth the life of Christ, knoweth and understandeth also 
Christ himself; and as much of the life of Christ as exists in man, as 
much is Christ in him ; and as little as there is of the one, so little is there 
of the other. . . . . Mark, one word or two ; embrace all this which other- 
wise must be expressed in many words : be pure, and wholly free of self." 

It was necessary, for our object, to refer thus largely to these and 
other fundamental ideas of the work entitled German Divinity, because 
one of the most important elements of the culture of our reformer was 
involved in it. 

In conclusion, we have yet to mention, among the German co-operators 
in the Reformation before Luther, the author of The Imitation of Christ 
(Nachfolge Christi), Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471), who died twelve 
years before Luther's birth. The history of his mental progress and 
influence point in their origin to Ruisbrock (1293-1381), in their effects 
to Wessel, and through him to Luther. 

John Ruisbrock lived in the forest solitude of his monastery at 
Gruenthal, near Brussels, in deep contemplation and exalted thought. 
He was visited there by two men, each of whom became afterwards a 
spiritual salt for his respective country, — Tauler for Germany, and 
Groot for the Netherlands. The minds of both were deeply affected 
by their intercourse with the venerable Christian seer, which aided in 
giving the decisive colouring to their future proceedings. 

Gerard Groot, a native of Deventer (1340-1384), became known in 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 87 

his own country as an honest, powerful, and affecting preacher to the 
people, and also as a zealous reformer of morals; but when the solem- 
nity of his addresses to the people became obnoxious to a large corrupt 
portion of the clergy, he obeyed the orders of his ecclesiastical superiors, 
and withdrew to a more private and circumscribed sphere of action. 
But even here he was destined to be of the greatest importance, not 
only to his country, but to humanity. In his retirement he founded the 
Communist Brethren (B ruder vom gemeinsamen Leben) ; those Christian 
unions and establishments which exercised, during the century before 
the Reformation, the most beneficial and extensive influence over the 
religious education and spiritual awakening of the people in the Nether- 
lands and in Germany. 

The idea of establishing a society for true Christian communion and 
brotherhood in his native city was first conceived by him during his visit 
to Ruisbrock in the monastery at Gruenthal (1378), on witnessing the 
beautiful united and brotherly life of the canons there. The work be- 
gun by Groot received the necessary completion and extension through 
his pupil and successor, Florentius Radewin (1350-1400) ; and under 
the direction of this man, young Thomas a Kempis was educated and 
fitted for his future task as the spiritual teacher of thousands, — so little 
dreamt of by him in his humility. 

AVe have no traces, it is true, of any immediate important influ- 
ence exercised by the writings of Thomas a Kempis upon Luther ; but 
it may be traced through the man who must be accepted as the spiritual 
connection and mental point of junction between Thomas a Kempis 
and Luther, — John Wessel (1419-1489), the greatest German theo- 
logian among the advocates of the Reformation of the fifteenth century. 
Wessel had received his early education, and become acquainted with 
the grey-haired Thomas a Kempis, who lived in the monastery of St. 
Agnes, at the neighbouring house of the Communist Brethren at Zwoll. 
The little work, The Imitation of Christ, which Kempis was then engaged 
in writing, became to him, Wessel himself states, the powerful incite- 
ment to piety, and a foundation of sound divinity. This true religion of 
the heart, this love without selfishness, nourished in the young Wessel 
the warmth indispensable to the fulfilment of that task which eventually 
made him the German reformer of the fifteenth century, the spiritual 
precursor and theological brother in the faith of Luther. Luther speaks 
of him with unequivocal admiration (1522): " Wessel now also comes to 



88 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

light as a man of great intellect and lofty mind, such as is not often 
found ; and it may be seen that he is really taught by God, as Isaiah 
has prophesied of such Christians. For it cannot be said that he derives 
his doctrine from man, any more than I do. If I had read Wessel's 
work earlier, my enemies might think that I had taken all my doctrine 
from him, so well do our spirits agree. This causes me great joy and 
increased strength; and I doubt no longer that I have taught truly, 
because he agrees with me so entirely in sense and almost in words, 
although he wrote at a different time, when other breezes blew." 

In all that we have hitherto stated we see a series of great preparatory 
labours, neither undertaken by caprice or obstinacy, nor conceived by 
individual schemes or self-conceit, but the providential result of the 
progress and influence of history ; a chain forming itself gradually and 
invisibly of numberless spiritual links, which in the end received in the 
heroic soul of Luther, as in a granite column, a central point of support, 
from whence it extended itself in all directions to form the frame of a 
new epoch. 

In this sense we have spoken of a reformation before Luther ; let us 
now see the shape' it took in Luther. 



THE REFORMATION IN LUTHER. 

How was he educated for his task, — he who was to be so powerful an 
instrument for the regeneration of the world ? — Above all, through the 
severe training of external, and the ardent struggles of internal, life. 

In the humiliating privations of poverty, under the strict and often 
severe hand of parental and school discipline, was the child of the Mans- 
feld miner to be steeled, body and mind, for his great work. Luther, like 
many others of our greatest men, had sprung from the kernel of our nation 
— the peasants and burgers. He was the son of a peasant from the Thurin- 
gian village Mocra, who, most likely with a view to obtaining more remu- 
nerative labour (the legend says, in consequence of some act committed 
in the heat of passion), had gone to reside first at Eisleben, afterwards 
at Mansfeld, where he became, by slow degrees and painful labour, if 
not a rich man, at least easy in his circumstances. In the same manner 
as many of our noblest spirits rise from the poverty and bitter want of 
their youth to importance and power, so Luther also learnt in early 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 89 



childhood " to eat his bread in sorrow." " My parents," he relates, 
" were at first really poor. My father was a woodcutter, and my 
mother carried the wood for sale on her back ; by this means they 
fed us children; they struggled hard." In his earliest youth, as soon 
as he was capable of receiving religious impressions, the germ of that 
earnest and heartfelt piety was implanted in his soul, which became 
afterwards the most distinguishing characteristic of his life ; the ex- 
ample of his vigorous severe father, and pious serious mother, effected 
this without many words. Their severity, however, degenerated some- 
times to improper harshness : " My father flogged me so severely one 
day, that I fled, and took a dislike to him, which he could only gradually 
overcome by kindness ; my mother, again, beat me one day for some 
worthless nut, until my blood flowed; and their serious strict manner 
of living made me run away afterwards into a monastery and become 
a monk. They meant well, but did not know how to adjust or measure 
punishment." 

Still, no one knew better than himself how much he owed to the 
training both of poverty and of parents : " It is a great kindness not to 
let children have their own way, whether you check them by threats or 

by flogging It is also a great cruelty, nay a horrid murder, if 

a father does not punish his child : if thou dost not Hog thy son, he will 
become a villain, and Master Hans* will have to punish him with his 
deadly rod. Those who humble themselves and suffer, will grow up to 
be somebody ; but those who are proud and do not submit to punish- 
ment, will go to destruction." Again alluding to the moral strengthen- 
ing through poverty and privation, he says : " The children of rich 
people rarely turn out well : they are confident, bold, and proud ; they 
think they need learn nothing, because they have enough to live on 
without it. On the contrary, poor people's sons have to raise them- 
selves from the dust ; they must suffer much ; and as they have nothing 
to boast of or to rely on, they learn to have confidence in God, they 
bow down and are silent. The poor fear God; therefore does God give 
them good intellects, that they may study and learn well, become sensible 
and clever, and able to impart of their wisdom to princes, kings, and 
emperors." Such observations as these are doubtless inspired by the 
grateful remembrance of his own youthful life and education. 

Not only in his home, but also in the school at Mansfeld, was 
* The executioner; in English, Jack Ketch. 



90 



A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PKOGKESS 



he often treated with tyrannical severity, so that it became for him 
" hell and purgatory, in which we were tormented with casualibus and 
temporalibus, and yet learnt nothing, positively nothing, with all the 
flogging, trembling, fear, and misery." 

In his fourteenth year (1497) he left Mansfeld in company with his 
schoolfellow John Reinecke, and visited the school of the Franciscans 
at Magdeburg. A year later he proceeded to Eisenach, the birthplace of 
his mother Margaret. There he enjoyed very superior instruction (until 
1501) in the high school attached to the church of St. George (most 
likely from the gentle rector Trebonius). He only now felt the real 
desire to acquire knowledge ; and his progress was soon after rendered 
easy by the kindness of Mrs. Ursula Cotta, who relieved him from the 
bitter want of the necessaries of life. At Magdeburg, and at first at 
Eisenach, he had had to beg his bread, singing in the streets, until 
that benevolent matron received the pious melancholy boy at her table, 
and perhaps also into her house. This conferred many blessings upon 
him ; the language and conduct of this kind-hearted and intelligent 
woman first inspired him with the ideal of a truly Christian family ; and 
in her house he also learnt music, from which art he derived, next to 
the Scriptures, the sweetest consolation. 

When he left Eisenach, in 1501, to study at the university of Er- 
furt, there languished, imprisoned in the monastery adjoining his school, 
one of the men who had prepared the way for him, the Franciscan monk 
Hilten, a spiritual relation of Savonarola's, as yet unknown to Luther, 
who prophesied to his oppressors the advent of the hero : " He will 
attack you monks with vigour, and him ye will be unable to withstand." 

The young student distinguished himsejf during his academical 
career at Erfurt (1501-1505) by persevering industry, moral purity, and 
piety. He took a degree in philosophy (magister) as early as 1505; and 
now his father, who had grown rich in the mean time, wished him to 
study the law ; but he defeated all these plans and wishes by suddenly 
entering the monastery of the Augustines at Erfurt, and taking the 
vows. Here we stand at the all-important turning-point of his life, 
which we must comprehend in its innermost significance, if we wish to 
understand correctly the depths of Luther's inward being, and his entire 
future development. 

The discipline of external, and the severe struggles of internal life, 
we said, educated him for his task. These struggles of his soul led 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 91 



him into the monastery; and there they attained a climax. Ashe did 
not attempt to set aside the spiritual and religious authorities of his 
day with contemptuous indifference, but grappled with them honestly 
and seriously, the experience of his own heart and mind soon taught 
him that he could not draw from them the living water for which his 
soul languished. The more sincerely he strove for inward satisfaction, 
the more painfully was he convinced that the then existing accredited 
religious institutions were abandoned by the life-giving spirit. His 
coming into immediate mental conflict with those spiritual powers 
which stopped up and darkened the way to the truth which he sought, 
was of decisive importance. In monachism, scholastics, and in priestly 
hierarchy, he sought in vain for true peace to his soul — for real satis- 
faction and divine contentment. 

The spiritual man approaches the victory of the divine principle, 
life in eternal ideas, by three distinct paths. Communion with God, 
the reality of eternal life in man, is conceived either as moral, aesthetic, 
or speculative consciousness. We may say religion manifests herself ir- 
resistibly in every reflective being as a moral requirement, or as aesthetic 
or intellectual intuition. The first of these paths we call the ethic — the 
irresistible holy impulse the conscience feels to fill up, by some means, 
the great gulf between holiness and sin, between the blessed simplicity 
of the divine will and our unhappy, distracted, and defiled condition. 
The second path is the cesthetic — the lively perception of eternal beauty 
in the most diversified phenomena of existence ; the inspired perception 
of the divine secret of nature, of art, and of life. We indicate the third 
path as the logical progress towards the oneness of thought, the con- 
ception of the truth in its creative ruling centre ; that striving of the 
mind thirsting after knowledge, which feels itself as it were banished 
when in the wretchedness of error and doubt. 

The more freely the religious consciousness is unfolded, the more 
evident will be its progress in the different paths ; and it will plunge 
again and again into the three springs of all spiritual life, from whence 
flows true religious individuality. Although, according to eternal laws, 
one of them may predominate, yet the complete want of one or another 
will ever affect us as a decay of a noble part, or the mutilation of the 
spiritual organism. Moral consciousness is the one indispensable cre- 
ating and restrictive element of inward religion, which way for a time 
exist through it alone, independent of the two other elements ; these, how- 



92 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 

ever, would but with difficulty preserve the vitality of the religion of the 
heart. 

In Luther we recognise great natural capabilities for a union of 
these fundamental principles of man's spiritual nature ; hut the ethic 
principle showed itself most powerfully and decisively in the ardent and 
unappeasable claims of his conscience ; hence arose his vocation as a 
reformer. His energetic mind would admit no obscuration, falsifying, 
or deceptive explanation of the enormous contrast which an awakened 
conscience perceives between human imperfection and sin, and the 
divine perfection and holiness. He did not rest until he had attained, 
by unspeakable troubles, doubts, and sufferings, to a satisfactory recon- 
ciliation of the difficulties of this contrast. He found it (anticipating 
our subject) in the belief in the grace of God through Christ. "Justi- 
fication through faith,'" God's free grace in Christ, — this became the 
clear and leading idea of his life, and of the reformation he originated. 
The abyss between the holy Creator and his sinful creature was bridged 
over for him by a new comprehension of the Saviour, at once historical 
and ideal ; by a saving view of the profound import of the Gospel, as 
an immeasurable-inward experience prevailing through all ages. Chris- 
tianity, as history and idea, drawn freshly from its original eternal sources, 
stood before him, like the newly -discovered land of his soul's desire : no 
longer as a rigorous law, depressing and paralysing the soul ; but as the 
divine capacity to a new spiritual life, as a second birth of the will, and 
therefore of the entire man. 

The above will furnish, in the outset, the most satisfactory explana- 
tion of the course of Luther's religious development to his disputes with 
Rome ; the internal history of that which in our introduction we have 
called " the Reformation in Luther." His entrance into the monastery 
is to us the first important step towards this development. What in- 
duced him to this step was, unmistakably, a burning desire for salvation, 
for a degree of moral and religious perfection which he thought could 
only be reached in a monastery. That he was influenced in the first 
instance, in his view of human salvation and reconciliation with God, by 
purely monastic ideas, was in reality the cause of his becoming a monk. 

The terror he experienced when the lightning fell close beside him, 
— the death of his friend in a thunderstorm, — in short, every impres- 
sion, every event which brought death, eternity, and judgment strongly 
before his mind, caused him to tremble in his innermost heart. In this 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 93 

condition of mind he felt that he could not stand before the eternal 
Judge; only the holy dare approach the Holy One. But where find 
holiness, if not in the monastery ? 

That such was his predominant train of thought can be proved by 
his own words : his description of a picture which was meant symboli- 
cally to represent the monastic conception of the Christian church, is 
characteristic of the ideas which he entertained in his youth: "They 
had painted a great ship, called the ' Holy Christian Church;' therein 
sat no layman, nor kings, nor princes ; only the pope, cardinals, and 
bishops in the prow, below the Holy Ghost ; and monks and priests at 
the sides, at the oars ; and so they sailed towards heaven. But the lay- 
men were swimming in the water round the ship : some were drowning ; 
a few dragged themselves towards the ship by ropes and cables which 
the holy fathers threw out to them from their great goodness, allow- 
ing them to share in their good works, and helping them, that they 
might not be drowned, but reach heaven clinging to the ship. And 
there was no pope, cardinal, nor bishop in the water, but only lay- 
men. Such a picture was an image and brief conception of their doctrine 
respecting the laity, and it is the same picture which they had in their 
books ; this they cannot deny. For I have been myself one of those 
fellows who have helped to teach this, and have believed and not 
known otherwise." 

The words of a later letter to his father are equally significant: 
~ ( This is now nearly the sixteenth year of my monkery, into which 

I entered without your knowledge I remember but too well, 

when we had been reconciled and you talked to me, and I said to you 
that I had been called by a dreadful apparition from heaven; for I be- 
came a monk not willingly, still less to fatten my body, but because, when 
I was encompassed by quick-coming death, I vowed a forced and hasty 
vow ; and you said immediately, ' I pray God it may not be a devilish 
spirit.' That word, as if God had spoken it out of your mouth, pierced 
and sank deep into my soul; but I closed and barred my heart as well 
as I could against you and your word." 

All his observations at different times agree in this : " I thought, 
' Oh, if I go into a monastery, and serve God in shaven crown and cowl, 
he will reward and welcome me !' For no other reason did I enter 
orders, but that I might serve and please God everlastingly. We knew 
nothing that a Christian ought to know, — what God, the world, the 

M 



94 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

church, sin or forgiveness of sin, meant; — they had darkened and sup- 
pressed all. We knew not otherwise than that priests and monks were 

all in all ; and upon their works we stood, and not upon Christ 

When I had begun to study the humanities and philosophy, and had 
learned and acquired enough to take my degree, I might have followed 
the example of others, and have in my turn taught the young people 
and instructed them ; or I might have proceeded with my own studies. 
But I left my parents, relations, and friends, and went into a monastery 
against their will. For I had been persuaded to believe that I should 
do God good service in that station by such hard and painful works. 

Every man has a big monk sitting in his bosom ; that is, we 

would willingly boast of our exceedingly good works, and be able to say : 
■ Behold, I have done this ! I have to-day paid God with prayers and 
good works.' We deem ourselves pure by nature, so as not to stand in 
need of mercy, but be acknowledged just and pious through our own 
merits. This naughtiness and hypocrisy is deeply rooted in our flesh." 



And what did he find in the monastery ? Did he there attain to the 
blessed peace of mind which a vague mysterious presentiment had fore- 
shadowed ? Instead of the much-hoped-for peace, his distress and 
trouble of mind increased during the first years. In vain brother 
Augustine (as he w T as now called) submitted to the meanest exercises 
of humiliation, now doing the menial work of the monastery, now tra- 
versing the streets of Erfurt with the beggar's wallet, collecting alms 
for it ; in vain he increased the castigations of his body, fasting, pray- 
ing, watching to excess ; in vain he studied the Latin Bible with the 
spiritual hunger of a mind eager for salvation, but without the indis- 
pensable key to the understanding of the Scriptures, — that Bible he had 
so longed to become thoroughly acquainted with while at the univer- 
sity, on seeing it for the first time ! In vain ; he felt himself separated 
from God by an abyss, which deepened the more, the more he strove, 
with suicidal agony and effort, to fill it up by his own spotless sanctity. 
He describes the condition of his mind at that period in these words : 

" When I first became a monk, I would willingly have taken heaven 
by storm ; I thought my monkery would suffice. In all this, what did 
I seek but God? who was to see how I kept the rules of mine order, 
and the strict life I led ? I lived continually in a dream and in real 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 95 

idolatry. It is true I have been a pious monk, and so strictly kept by 
mine order, that I may say, if ever a monk reached heaven through 
monkery, I ought to have gone also : this all the brethren of the mon- 
astery who have known me will bear witness to ; for if it had lasted much 
longer, I should have tormented myself to death with watching, praying, 
and other works of devotion. In popery we mad saints have made 
one ordinance after another, and no end of rules ; they have served to 
terrify the conscience, and caused the people to thirst for the truth, 
— a thirst which their preachers have done nothing to allay. When 
I was a monk, I crucified Christ every day, and slandered him by the 
false confidence which at that time clove to me. It is true I was not 
like other people ; outwardly I kept my vows of chastity, neither did I 
trouble myself concerning the things of this life .... but beneath this 
sanctity and false confidence, I felt in the integrity of my own heart 
continual mistrust and doubts, fear and hatred, and I even blasphemed 
God. When a monk in the monastery, I was outwardly much more sanc- 
tified than I am now ; . . . . my life had great glory in the eyes of the 
people, but not in mine own eyes, for I had a broken spirit and was ever 

sorrowful My experience when a monk was this : while grievously 

tormenting myself with watching and studying, doubts still remained in 
my conscience : who knows, thought I, whether all this be really agree- 
able and pleasing to God or not? When I was most devout, I still 
approached the altar in unbelief, and in unbelief I withdrew from it. 
If I had made confession, I still doubted ; and if I omitted it, I fell into 
despair : for we were so miserably deluded, that we thought we could 
not pray, and would not be heard, unless we were pure and free from 
sin, like angels in heaven. As a monk, I deemed myself lost when I felt 
a desire of the flesh, such as unchastity, or wrath, hatred, envy, &c. 
against a brother. I tried many remedies ; I confessed every day; but 
it was of no use, — the desires revived again. Therefore I could not be 
satisfied, but tormented myself continually with such thoughts as these : 
' Behold, thou hast committed such and sucb sin .... therefore it is 
of no avail that thou hast taken holy orders ; all thy good works are 
naught ! ' The greatest temptation of the devil is that when he says : 
* God is the enemy of sinners ; thou art a sinner ; therefore is God thine 
enemy.' If in this case we do not make the distinction that God is the 
enemy of the unrepentant sinner only, conscience lies conquered, and 
we despair. When conscience is told the law must be fulfilled, must 



96 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

be kept, — it concludes from that hour, thou must keep the law, or thou 
art condemned ; thou hast not kept it, thou canst not keep it ! Then 
begin everlasting agony and pangs of conscience. .... The word 
righteous, and the righteousness of God, were to me like a clap of thun- 
der. Formerly, in popish times, we cried for eternal salvation and the 
kingdom of the Lord; we have sought it, and knocked day and night. 
I myself, if I had not been saved through the consolations of the Gos- 
pel of Christ, could not have lived two years longer, so much did I 
torment myself, striving to flee from the wrath of God ; neither were 
tears and sighs wanting ; but we did not attain to any thing with all this. 
A monk with his masses and his many other works either becomes self- 
righteous or he despairs. As an experienced monk, having striven 
earnestly to be one, I may truly call monkery an infernal poisoned pill 
covered with sugar. For, the consolatory promise, that a man could 
make himself spiritually alive and blessed without the intervention of 
Christ and his Holy Spirit, was beyond measure sweet to hear, and 
tasted richly to the mind ; indeed, we meant to go to heaven, and gain 

the kingdom of heaven by stealth That was the sugar which 

enticed us to monkery and its baptism. Afterwards, when we had swal- 
lowed the pill, we found the poison, — that Christ was lost, and was 
now no longer a saviour and comforter, but a wrathful judge in our 

hearts ; and were tormented by fears, doubts, and terror To 

sum up all, — a monastery is a hell." 

As seriously and severely as he sought to embody monachism in 
himself, so highly did he regard his consecration as a priest (1507) ; but 
this rather increased his fear and terror, instead of leading him to better 
knowledge and peace of mind. Even while celebrating his first mass, 
he was nearly overcome by inward shuddering and horror when he 
came to the words in which he was to offer up "to Almighty God this 
spotless sacrifice" for his own and others' sins, for the living and the 
dead. He felt, " How can I address the high majesty of God, when 
men tremble before a king even?" This inward trouble afflicted him 
for a long time. " The ungodly," he writes at a later period, " do not 
see and feel the wrath of God ; they live on without fear. A man who 
fears God and believes in him, however, feels at all times more sin than 
grace, more wrath than love of God ; the more pious he is, the more he 
feels the struggle of the flesh against the spirit. I was very pious in 
the monastery, and yet even sorrowful, because I thought God was not 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 97 

t 

merciful unto me. I celebrated mass and prayed, and after confession 

and mass I could never be satisfied in my heart I have been a 

monk for fifteen years, have daily said masses and read the Psaltery, so 

that I knew it by heart And never did I get so far with all 

these masses, prayings, and watchings, that 1 could have said, ' Now I 
am certain that God is merciful unto me.' It is no wonder that in 
popish times people should have feared and been horrified at the sacra- 
ment, for they perverted the sweet and lovely sacrament with gall, 
wormwood, and vinegar; they have taught us we must be so pure, that 
not one grain of dust of daily sin should cling to us ; this 1 could not 
discover in me, and therefore I was frightened at the sacrament. And 
this terror, which I have learnt in popish times, and to which I have 
become accustomed, clings to me even to this day, although I should now 
approach it joyfully. When I meant to take the sacrament, I thought 
if I could only remain free from sin for one hour, that I might receive 
the sacrament worthily ; therefore was it my use and wont, when I 
had prayed the appointed time and said mass, to close always at the 
end with these words : ' I come to thee, my dear Lord Jesus, and I 
pray thee to deign to accept all that I have done and suffered in mine 
order as a set-off against my sins.' I had chosen one-and-twenty saints, 
said mass every day, and addressed three of them, so that they reached 
out the week ; and particularly did I pray to the holy Virgin, because 
her woman's heart might be more easily moved to reconcile me to her 
Son. Thus were we who longed to live a righteous life tormented by 
the pope, who, by means of his monks, makes such countless snares 
wherewith to entangle consciences." 

In those days he still looked upon the authority of the pope and 
of the church of Rome with the same deep veneration as the monks 
and priests ; with feelings of the most unconditional subjection, peculiar 
to ardent believers in the middle ages. He might easily have degene- 
rated into a fanatical judge of heretics, into a zealous persecutor like 
Saul, if occasion had served. " If ever there w r as one," he says him- 
self, " who, before the re-appearance of the light of the Gospel, deeply 
revered the pope's laws and the traditions of the fathers, and zealously 
strove for them in great seriousness, esteemed them and the keeping 
of them a sanctuary, burned for them, and deemed them necessary to 
salvation, truly it was I. So great was the pope's authority with me, that 
I considered the deviating from him in the very least article a sin worthy 



98 



A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



of eternal damnati >n ; and this godless idea caused me to look upon' 
Huss as so damnable a heretic, as to make it a heavy sin only to think 
of him ; and to defend the authority of the pope I would willingly have 
lighted up a fire myself to burn the heretic, and believed I had shown 
the strictest obedience to God in so doing." He says he sincerely 
revered the pope, and in those days he would readily have torn with his 
teeth any one who would have persuaded him to the faith he afterwards 
embraced. " If any one," he asserts in one place, "in the time when I 
was a pious holy monk, and said mass every day, and knew not other- 
wise than that I was walking in the right path straight to heaven, had 
told me that all this sanctity was of no avail, and that I was an enemy 
of the cross of Christ, I should willingly have assisted in carrying stones 
and wood to stone such a Stephen to death, or destroy him by fire." 

This series of confessions will afford to every reader at all familiar 
with the phenomena of spiritual life a clear insight into Luther's state 
of mind. He was still entirely under the dominion of those priestly 
forces against which he arose afterwards with such mighty power, and 
whose downfall was mainly brought about by him. A thorough monk, 
priest, and Romish scholiast, he struggled, with exhausting efforts, gra- 
dually to free himself from these deep religious impressions. He had 
embraced with passionate energy those forms of the church imposed 
by the spirit of hierarchy and monachism, which at that period were 
spiritually defunct ; yet he was the very man destined successfully to 
attack and vanquish these forms. He began his labours, not by dissent- 
ing from them, not by casting off the religious ordinances of the time; 
on the contrary, he began with the most humble subjection to them, 
with the most ardent desire to accept them wholly. And even when 
his inward experience and growing knowledge, after overcoming the ex- 
treme of confusion, compelled him to throw them off, he raised himself 
to this recantation only by the power of a more heartfelt and solemn 
conviction. If the agonising cries of conscience, the spiritual thirst 
after truth, had not stirred him; if they had not, although misunder- 
stood for a long time, directed him day and night from stale and turbid 
waters to the living fountains, Martin Luther would have remained, 
without doubt, one of the most zealous monks of the sixteenth century. 

When in later years^he called his monastic life lost years; when he 
lamented that he had there lost the salvation and bliss of his soul and 
the health of his body ; he took only one view of the case, and did not 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. S9 

duly estimate the importance of these years. The horror which seized 
him when looking back from a higher and freer position, to the obscure 
and gloomy conditions of a period of his life now left behind him, was 
natural ; it was a sensation such as may be experienced by those who 
have exchanged the oppressive air of a prison for the life-giving breezes 
of the mountains. 

At other times he clearly recognised that even these sad and soul- 
destroying years formed a necessary part of the entire course of his 
experience and culture. Later he frequently expressed himself to the 
effect, that he owed it to those temptations that he had been compelled 
to search more and more deeply ; that the holy Scriptures could not be 
comprehended without experience and study; temptation, he said, is 
the chivalry of Christians. God does not choose bold presumptuous 
persons to do his work upon earth, but those who have been well tried, 
smoothed, and broken in. In the poetical expressions of a childlike 
mind, he seeks to unfold the spiritual direction he had received : " If God 
means to try us, he causes many obstacles to be thrown in our way, 
that vje may not at once trace his dealings; as one sports with a little 
worm, throwing a rod or a leaf before it where it creeps, that it may 
not be able to go straightforward, but has to turn hither and thither 
in different directions, ere it get away at last. But we do not under- 
stand this method of divine mercy in the beginning, and interpret the 
very blessings which are placed before our eyes as the means of our 
destruction." 

At Eisenach the kindness of Mistress Cotta had helpfully met the 
poor scholar. At Erfurt the gentle Dr. Staupitz held out a saving hand 
to the monk hungering after righteousness and peace ; he prepared a 
new turning-point in his religious experience and in his life. We 
learn from Luther's own words, that " the light of the Gospel first 
shone in the darkness of his heart through the words of Staupitz." 

He did not find in the monastery, among his companions, the assist- 
ance, the spiritual advancement, which he sought so eagerly ; they could 
not properly comprehend his mental afflictions. He himself complains : 
" No one could comfort me under those fearful temptations I had to bear, 
which consumed my body and breath, and often made me doubt whether 
I had any brains remaining in my head. Those to whom I complained 
knew nothing of such temptations ; and I often cried : ' Is it I alone, 
then, who have to bear this affliction ?'" The brethren of his monastery 



100 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

sought to console him with simple, words, probably, under the direction 
of the vicar-general Staupitz. "Kriowest thou not," said his preceptor 
on one occasion, "that our Lord himself has commanded us to hope 
and to believe ? " At confession, one of the brethren called out to him : 
" Thou art a fool ! God is not angry with thee, thou art angry with 
him : be not thou wrathful with him, and he will be less angry with 
thee ! " Another time, an old monk, to whom he confessed, referred 
him very impressively to the article of the Apostles' Creed on the re- 
mission of sins, and to portions of the homilies of St. Bernard, in order 
to convince him that he also might obtain the remission of sins which 
is pronounced in the absolution. 

It was, however, reserved for the fatherly exhortations of Staupitz 
to produce a decisive impression upon the soul of Luther. In the re- 
markable letter to Staupitz (dated 1518), in which he gives a brief sum- 
mary of his inward history to the period of the dispute concerning the 
indulgences, he says, that when Staupitz taught him that " true repent- 
ance began with the love of righteousness and of God," while those con- 
science-tormentors, the scholiasts, taught that it (true repentance) ended 
with it, it appeared to him "like a voice from heaven," This word had 
clung to him like an arrow sped by a strong man ; and he had found in 
the Scriptures, on carefully studying them, its fullest confirmation ; so 
that thenceforward no expression in the Scriptures sounded in his ear 
more sweetly than the word repentance, which, so long as his love of God 
was fancied or forced, had been the bitterest of all ; " for the laws of 
God become sweet unto us when we read and understand them, not 
only in books, but in the wounds of our precious Saviour." It is evi- 
dent from these words, that he lays the greatest weight upon the fact 
that the living knowledge of Christ as the Saviour of the world had been 
revealed to him only through the correct understanding of the word 
repentance ; and that he owes the first key to this knowledge to the 
fatherly counsel of Staupitz. 

This gentle friend prepared the agonised soul of Luther for the 
consolations of Augustin and of German mysticism, both emanating 
from the Christian religion as explained by St. Paul and St. John — the 
religion of a loving heart, and of tried spiritual experience. 

Even Staupitz could not at once comprehend the spiritual condi- 
tion of his unhappy friend. When Luther confessed to him the very 
foundation of his difficulties {den rechten Knote?i), he did not understand 



OF THE PREFORMATION IN GERMANY. 101 



him at all, and gave him a most dreadful shock: he says, "Then I he- 
came a mere dead body." At meals Staupitz attempted to cheer him 
thus: "Ye are sad, brother Martin. I have never experienced tempta- 
tions like thine ; but, as far as I can understand thee and them, all thou 
needest is better eating and drinking. God hath not sent these good 
things to thee in vain ; without them, thou canst do no good." " He 
imagined," says Luther, " that I, being learned, might become proud and 
self-sufficient without these temptations." And when he complained 
that he had been much shocked during a procession at the host which 
Staupitz had carried, the latter replied : " Alas ! thy thoughts are not 
of Christ ; for Christ frighteneth not, but only consoleth." 

On one occasion, when he had given vent to his griefs in writing, 
" My sins ! my sins ! my sins !" the vicar-general said in answer : " Thou 
strivest to be free from sin, and hast yet no real sin ; make a regis- 
ter of what are sins in reality, and do not deal in such paltry fancies, 

or deem every trifle a sin, if Christ is to help thee Thou 

makest thyself a sinner in thy fancy, and then seekest an equally 
fancied Christ to be thy Saviour. Take to heart that Christ is the 
real true Saviour, as thou art a real sinner." Luther's doubts and 
speculations upon predestination, and whether and upon what grounds 
any one might look upon himself as saved or rejected by God, were 
also corrected by Staupitz. " Predestination is to be found and un- 
derstood in the wounds of Christ, — nowhere else; for it is written: 
' Hear ye Him!' The Father is too high; therefore he says: ' I will 
show you a path by which ye may come unto me, namely Christ: 
believe in him, cling to him, and ye will find in due time who I am /' 
For God is incomprehensible, and we cannot conceive or understand 
what he is, still less what are his purposes ; he is not to be compre- 
hended ; and, in short, he will not be known, except through Christ. 
Therefore set Christ well before you ; then predestination is assured, 
and thou art already elect." This is clearly the language of theological 
experience, of the religion of the heart, intended to lead Luther from 
his exhausting spiritual torments and profound speculations back to the 
simplicity of the Gospel; it is the language of that unobtrusive but 
stedfast piety which opposes facts, the experiences of faith working by 
love, to theoretical questions foreign to its true spirit. 

On this subject Luther wrote even in the year 1542 to the Count 
Albrecht of Mansfield : " It would grieve me to the heart if your lord- 

N 



102 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

ship should be troubled with these thoughts and temptations, for I 
myself have been troubled with them ; and if Dr. Staupitz, or rather 
God through Staupitz, had not helped me out, I should have been 
overwhelmed by them, and been long ago in hell. For such devilish 
thoughts cause faint-hearted people to become desperate and to despair 
of God's mercy ; or they are bold and courageous, become blasphemers 
and enemies, and say : ' Let come what may, I will do as I like, for all 
is lost!'" How gladly he quotes, even at a still later period, those 
words of his fatherly friend which had been especially consoling to him : 
" Dr. Staupitz used to say : God's law says to man, Here is a great 
mountain, cross it ; then the flesh and presumption say, I will ; but con- 
science cries, Thou canst not ! I give it up, answers despair ! Thus the 
law begets in man either presumption or despair." Again he recalls 
the deep impression which the confession of that humble-minded man 
made upon him : " I have vowed to our Lord God more than a thousand 
times that I would be holy; but I have never kept that vow, and I know 
that I shall never keep it. Therefore I will not any longer resolve 
upon being holy, for I see well that it is impossible ; I will lie no 
more ; I will pray for a blessed death. If God be not merciful unto me 
for Christ's sake, I shall not stand the test with all my vows and good 
works, but must be lost." Luther calls this a glorious speech: " It has 
given me a new light (eine neue Kunst), that my own righteousness can 
avail nothing before God.''' 

And even then he approached this truth only by slow degrees, with 
dear-bought victories over constantly-recurring obstacles and doubts. 
But this slow and painful birth of saving knowledge is the most significant 
event, followed by the most important consequences, in Luther s spiritual 
history; and upon the lively comprehension of which, a just appreciation 
of him and of his labours must in a great measure be based. 

We perceive him still struggling for a deeper and more satisfactory 
comprehension of the Christian mystery of the remission of sin, — the 
very kernel of religious conviction, from which a more complete and 
spiritual conception of Christianity was to spring forth. On looking 
back to these beginnings, Luther said: " It is easy talking of remission 
of sin ; indeed, the whole Christian doctrine is easy. Truly, if words 
would suffice; but if it comes to a struggle in earnest, we perceive our 
ignorance. For it is a great thing to be able to conceive and believe 
with heartfelt faith that all my sins are forgiven, and that I am justified 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 103 

before God through such faith. I have experienced often, and expe- 
rience more and more clearly every day, how beyond all measure difficult 

this is Whoever can look upon Christ as his loving Saviour 

conquers all." He was, indeed, already approaching this point, when at 
Christmas he joined, with an internal emotion of relief hitherto unknown 
to him, in the hymn : " O blessed guilt, which hast gained for us such a 
Redeemer!" (0 beata culpa, quce talem meruisti Redernptorem.) 

The truth thus arising within him was gradually confirmed by 
reflection, and comparing certain passages of Scripture, which formed 
thenceforth the corner-stone of his religious knowledge. These were the 
words of the prophet Habakkuk (ii. 4), "But the just shall live by 
faith;" and of the Apostle Paul (Rom. i. 17), who calls the Gospel 
" the power of God unto salvation to them that believe. For therein 
is the righteousness which sufficeth before God revealed from faith to 
faith." The words, " which sufficeth before God," are Luther's own 
free translation, warranted by the sense and connexion of the original ; 
the literal translation would be, " the righteousness of God.""* 

" I had the most intense desire rightly to comprehend St. Paul's 
epistle to the Romans, but was always stopped by the word ' righteous- 
ness.' I was greatly averse to the words, i the righteousness of God;' for, 
according to the custom of the schools, I had been taught that I was to 
understand it in a philosophical sense, as the righteousness according to 
which God is just and punisheth sinners. Although blameless in con- 
duct, I yet felt myself a great sinner before God : 1 was also gifted with 
a tender conscience, and did not presume to reconcile myself to God 
through my own merits and good works. I felt, therefore, no love for a 

just and incensed God, but was wroth with him in secret Then 

I reflected day and night upon the true meaning of Paul, and became 
aware at last that it must be understood thus : ' The justice of God is 
satisfied by the righteousness revealed in the Gospel, through which, in his 
mercy and graciousness, he justifies us ; as it is written, The just shall 
live by faith.' Thus I soon felt as if born again; as if I had found the 
gates of Paradise thrown wide open to me. Now 1 also looked upon the 
blessed Scriptures more reverently than in former times, and read them 
through rapidly. As I had formerly hated the expression, ' the righte- 
ousness of God,' I now esteemed it as full of consolation ; and this pas- 
sage of St. Paul's epistle in which it occurs was now in truth the gate of 
* As in the Enalish version. 



104 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

Paradise. Until then I had been wanting only in that I looked upon 
the Law and the Gospel as one, and deemed there was no difference be- 
tween Christ and Moses but that of time and degree of perfection ; but 

when I discovered the real difference, then I was free Even at 

the present day I feel horrified when I hear or read the words Justus 
Be us, so strongly doth deep-rooted habit cling to me ! I laboured in- 
dustriously and anxiously to understand the text of Paul (Rom. i. 17), 
until at length, through the help of the Holy Spirit, I was enabled 

rightly to weigh the words of the prophet Habakkuk From them 

I came to the conclusion, that life must arise from faith ; that man is 
just before God through faith. Then the holy Scriptures, nay heaven 
itself, was opened to my spirit." 

If at Erfurt the intimacy with Staupitz had been of great importance 
to Luther's development, its consequences became infinitely more im- 
portant on his translation to Wittenberg (1508). Staupitz wished to 
promote his young friend to a post in this new university, in order to 
present a field for activity to a mind so long dejected and oppressed. 

The following nine years (1508-1517), spent at Wittenberg, had this 
influence upon Luther : they diminished his extravagant monkish la- 
bours for the good of his soul, by means of the exertions his duty com- 
pelled him to make for the good of others ; they also made him more 
intimately acquainted (a matter of such immense importance) with man- 
kind and the real practice of the world. All this, of necessity, exer- 
cised a highly beneficial influence upon his spiritual progress. As philo- 
sophical, and afterwards theological, teacher at the university ; as preacher 
to the monastery and in the town church ; on his journey to Rome, and 
in the practical business of his order, which was confided to him by 
Staupitz for some time; — in all these diversified relations he learnt with 
ever-increasing intelligence to judge of the real aspect of his time. 

His observations upon his visit to Rome (1510) prove how little he 
then believed himself called to be the opponent of popery, although 
much of what he saw and heard revolted his earnest mind, and influenced 
him at a later period. "It so happened to me at Rome," he writes 
twenty years later, " when I was one of those foolish saints, that I ran 
through all churches and crypts, and believed all the fables told about 
them .... We knew no better. 1 have celebrated mass some ten times 
at Rome ; and 1 was actually sorry that my father and mother were still 
alive, as I might otherwise have released them from purgatory by masses 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 105 

and other costly works. Among other coarse observations, I have heard 
the courtesans and other lewd people laugh and boast at table as how 
some said mass, and while blessing the bread and wine said these words: 
Panis es, et panis manebis ; vinum es, et vinum manehis (thou art bread, and 
bread thou wilt remain; thou art wine, and wine thou wilt remain). 
What could I think of all this ? Do they talk thus freely and publicly 
here at Rome at table, as if pope, cardinals, courtesans, and all, thus 
said mass together ? .... I was quite disgusted with their off-hand 
manner of celebrating mass, as if they were playing juggling tricks ; for 
before I could get as far as the gospel in mine, the priest nearest to 
me had finished his, and called out to me : i Passa, passa ! Have done ; 
come away 1 ' I wish that every person intended to be a preacher could 
first go to Rome and see what is done there. I have heard them myself 
say, ' If there is a hell, Rome is built on the top of it!' No one will 
credit the roguery carried on, the awful and shameful sin committed in 
Rome : no one could be persuaded that such villany exists, unless he 
witnessed and experienced it. The higher their honours and dignities, 
the more wantonly they sin ; so that we have now a new proverb : ( The 
nearer to Rome, the worse the Christian.'" Luther's great aversion to 
the dark features in the character of the unhappy degraded Ralian na- 
tion owes its origin principally to his residence in Italy: " The Italians 
have cunning, intriguing heads : they must be put to shame, and their 
degraded state exposed, that they may not despise others, as if they were 
the only wise people ; for a hard knot needeth a sharp wedge. For this 
reason I have always advised that our youths, wdien they have mastered 
the Catechism, and are properly grounded in the Word of God, should 
be sent to Italy to see the wickedness and roguery there, and thus learn 

to protect themselves therefrom The Italians laugh and mock at 

us because we believe in the Scriptures. They are either very supersti- 
tious or epicurean ; a small number of them only believe in the resur- 
rection of the dead ; and it is a common saying in Italy, when they 
mean to go to church : ' Let us go to the common error (gemeinen Irr- 
thum) !' They are an intelligent and clever people, aware of the pride 
of the pope and the ignorance of the monks, who deride all religion as a 

fable When a German has adopted the epicurean philosophy in 

Italy, and digested this hellish pill, he becomes much worse and more 
full of malice than an Italian." 

In the five years which elapsed between his obtaining the doctor's 



106 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 

degree (1512) and his first public attack on the sale of indulgences (1517), 
he advanced rapidly in his spiritual development as a reformer. The 
oath taken at the ordination justified his proceedings to his conscience, 
and proved of great value to him in subsequent temptations. " We 
must have a certain divine call to a good work," he observes on this 
subject, "and not our own inclination only. Those who have a sure 
call from God for the beginning and completing of a good work find it 
difficult enough. What, then, can those do who proceed without a call, 
and seek only their own honour and glory ?" Thus did he express him- 
self, who considered the authority of conscience as the first indispensable 
condition of all his doings and endeavours ; the authority of a conscience, 
be it observed, which relied solely on the divine call, on the certainty of 
unison with the divine will.c 

As a teacher at the university, and as a preacher, he freed himself, 
with ever-increasing certainty and clearness, from the oppressive shackles 
of the current philosophy and divinity of the schools ; he became more 
and more alive to the fact, that he must break loose from the traditional 
forms of philosophy, from those fetters of the soul and the understanding 
protected by the name of Aristotle. l( I said," these are his own words, 
" that we ought to prove, not merely to suppose ; and so I freed myself 
by degrees from the sophists, and with much prayer proceeded in my 
studies in my own way." In a letter to his friend Lange at Erfurt 
(1516), his aversion to the Aristotelian philosophy, and to the whole 
system of study established in those days, is already expressed in ve- 
hement language ; he had not only separated from them mentally, but 
he was eager to meet them in open opposition. The spiritual battle of 
Reuchlin and Hutten against certain persecuting and insidious individuals 
among the monks and the adherents of the old school of philosophy, 
which was raging most furiously just at that moment, could not fail to 
exercise an encouraging influence upon Luther's mind. He had arrived 
even then at the decisive conviction which he expressed later (1520) in 
the fiery words of intense hatred — the conviction that Aristotle and Christ 
were as far distant one from the other as heaven is from earth ; and that 
Christian truth, instead of being the serf of the Aristotelian philosophy, 
ought to be drawn henceforward from its own original sources alone. 
" I am grieved at heart that that proud heathen should seduce and 
befool with his false words so many of the worthiest Christians. . , . . . 
That miserable fellow teaches in his best book, de Anima, that the soul is 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 107 

mortal with the body ; .... as if we had not got the holy Scriptures, 
in which we are taught abundantly those things of which Aristotle had 
never got the least scent ! Yet hath the dead heathen conquered and 

hindered, nay almost suppressed the books of the living God In 

the same way, the book of Ethics, more than any other book, is directly 
opposed to God's grace and Christian virtue." 

In the pulpit he impressed upon his hearers, as early as 1515, the 
fundamental idea of his conception of Christian life : that all our actions 
are valued by God only according to the motives from which they arise. 
This one principle attacked the very centre of monkish morality arid 
views of human life, — the inanimate mechanism of so-called "good 
works" — i. e. piety according to the prescribed measure of penances, 
castigations, fasting, praying, pilgrimages, &c. — was here condemned 
and rejected already as the petrifaction of all heartfelt religion and 
spiritual life, although this sentence of condemnation had not yet been 
pronounced in plain words as afterwards. Yet was he bold enough 
at that time when he preached ; for a beginner (in Christian faith and 
life) much fasting, watching, and praying (asceticism generally) might be 
necessary, but it became a great hindrance to more advanced believers. 
" As rain-drops," he says in one of his sermons, " fall upon the land, 
so falls the word upon the hearts of men, so hath Christ descended 
on the nations through his word ; and as the rain falls independent of 
the work of our hands, so descends the mercy of Christ independent 

of our merits The Lord will be our hen* of salvation, but we 

will not have him. For this is what I meant to say, that we cannot 
be saved through our own righteousness, but we must fly under the wings 
of this our hen, that we may receive from her fulness what is wanting 
in us. But those who walk securely become the prey of the vultures ; 
they will not hear the voice of the hen, which crieth out to them that 
their own righteousness is sin." 

In the above we have witnessed the quiet gradual progress which 
was made, often in the darkest depths of the human mind, towards that 
which we have previously called The Reformation in Luther. One step 
— a most difficult one — remained to the Reformation through Luther. 

Whoever enters the monastic cells of Erfurt and Wittenberg which 
were occupied by Luther, may say to himself, without exaggeration, " In 
that confined space one of the greatest and most influential struggles 
* Matthew xxiii. 37, " Even as a hen gathereth her chickens." 



108 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

was experienced ever recorded in the history of the world : the transition 
of the Christian conscience from ihe middle ages to modern times ; the 
breaking forth of heartfelt from mere external religion ; the delivera?ice 
of free spiritual and personal Christianity from the preparatory wrap- 
pings of forms and ordinances. 



Second Sftrtrfj* 

STRUGGLE WITH ROME, 



We have accompanied Luther to the threshold of his career as a 
reformer ; we have sought to trace those mighty thoughts and deeds 
which were hereafter to shake the world, to their secret origin in the 
mind of the almost unknown monk and professor. He now appears 
upon a wider stage, amidst events of world-wide interest, whose pro- 
found signification we must endeavour to apprehend, if we would bring 
the image of the reformer impressively and vividly before our mind's 
eye. Among these great historical events, his struggle against Rome 
stands in the foreground ; it gave European importance to the German 
doctor ; and even now numberless persons connect no other idea with 
the name of Luther than that of a victorious opponent to popery. 



I. The Struggle. 

After the severe internal and external preparations, the history of 
which we have traced in the preceding pages, the most severe and 
important crisis of his development yet awaited Luther ; the persever- 
ing resistance which the world, more especially in the form of the 
degraded papacy, opposed to him. He was now to become conscious of 
all the deductions to be drawn from the point of view he had attained 
in spiritual sense ; he must now learn to build solely upon the truth 
thus recognised, upon religious principle so painfully acquired, jnstead 
of leaning on ecclesiastical authority in his slow but ever-increasing 
attempts at amendment. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 109 

The struggle commenced with the point which had been the decisive 
saving one in Luther's spiritual life. While in the hands of an avaricious, 
worldly, and domineering priesthood and superstitious people, it had 
degenerated into a revolting scandal to the cause of religion. The point 
in question was nothing less than — how man might find the way to 
return from error and defilement to God, and obtain reconciliation with 
his Creator and Judge. It was, in fact, the craving of conscience for 
the remission of sins, for redemption and atonement, — a longing for the 
effectual cure of the deepest ills of humanity, that gave to Luther's 
appearance before the world its great and abiding importance ; an im- 
portance we must not suffer the scholastic form and language in which 
the debate was for a long time carried on, to obscure. 

The answer Luther had found to the above all-important question 
was of a deeply spiritual and purely religious nature : The repentant 
return of the heart to God; unconditional humble confidence in free 
grace, in the love and mercy of God made man. The answer which, on 
the other hand, the church of Rome gave practically to this question 
was : For money you may purchase your peace with God ; in purchasing 
the letters of indulgence which the highest ecclesiastical authority, the 
pope himself, offers for sale from the treasury of his mercy, you can 
obtain forgiveness of sin. Such was the traffic in indulgences ; a rich 
source of revenue for Rome. It thus was understood by the people, and 
extolled by the clerical dealers ; notwithstanding the zealous and learned 
attempts made by papists of later periods, to prove that the church never 
understood indulgences in this coarse sense. The fact remains un- 
contradicted, — that in the bosom of that church, forgiveness of sins w as 
openly offered for sale in the name of her highest dignitary, and was 
actually sold in the form of letters of indulgence. The estimate we 
form of the separation of the churches in the sixteenth century, as well 
as all attempts at understanding between earnest sincere Catholics and 
Protestants, must have its foundation in this astounding fact. It is no 
rhetorical exaggeration, but a literal fact, that in the original quarrel 
between Luther and Tetzel, the seller of indulgences, we have before 
us, as it were, in striking contrast, Christ and Belial, God and 
Mammon. 

The first act of Luther and of the Reformation was, therefore, the 
raising of Christianity from its deep degeneration ; a troubled cry of the 
Christian conscience against the most revolting disfigurement and per- 

o 



110 



A SKETCH OF THE KISE AND PROGRESS 



version of the religion of the Crucified: this is the imperishable glory 
of the 31st of October 1517, — the day on which Luther affixed his 
ninety-five theses, against the use of indulgences, on the church-doors 
at Wittenberg. 

The very first thesis opposes a radically different view, drawn from 
moral and religious considerations, to the whole theory of penitence 
and absolution, as then maintained by the degenerate Christian religion 
of the priests : " When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ saith, * Re- 
pent ye,' &c, he wills that the whole life of his faithful people on earth 

shall be a continuous penitence And such word," the second 

thesis adds, " neither can nor must be understood to refer to the sacra- 
ment of penance, that is to say, of confession and absolution as ad- 
ministered by the priest." The thirty-second thesis declares still 
more boldly, " those persons who believe themselves sure of salvation 
through indulgences will go to the devil with their teachers." The 
assertion of the thirty-sixth thesis, that " every Christian who feels true 
repentance and sorrow for sins has entire forgiveness, without letters 
of indulgences," was already essentially a rejection of the whole hier- 
archical edifice. In the thirty- seventh it is said, "every true Christian, 
living or dead, partakes in all the blessings of Christ and of the church 
as the gift of God, without any indulgences." In the forty-third and 
forty-fourth also : " Christians must be taught that it is better to give 
to the poor, or lend to those in want, than to purchase indulgences : for 
by works of love, love increaseth, and man becometh more holy ; but 
by indulgences he does not get better, but only more confident and 

free from suffering and punishment Christians ought to be 

taught," he says further, " that the pope's indulgence is well enough so 
long as it is not relied on (49). . . . Trust in indulgences for salvation 
is false and worthless, even though the commissary , nay the pope himself, 

should pledge his own soul on it (52) The treasures of the 

church, out of which the pope grants indulgences, are neither sufficiently 

defined nor well enough known to the community of Christ (56) 

The true real treasure of the church is the holy Gospel of the glory and 
grace of God (62)." 

In this way the warfare began, the course of which, with all its 
details, has been already so often related, that we may confine ourselves 
to pointing out those which refer to the most prominent and important 
changes. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. Ill 



However bold and impressive the language of these theses, Luther 
himself had no idea at that time of the flame he would kindle by 
their means : his spirit, still painfully wavering between the authority of 
the Scriptures and of the church, would perhaps have trembled and 
drawn back, could he then have foreseen all the consequences of this first 
step. His mind for several years longer continued to struggle between 
freedom of judgment and humility : zeal for the faith and piety, con- 
science and increased knowledge, urged on a rupture ; reverence and 
the obedience in which he had been brought up inclined him to peace 
with Rome. 

He himself characterises his mental history during the first years of 
the struggle in words most worthy of consideration : " I had got singly 
and through imprudence into this dispute ; and as I could not draw 
back, I not only gave way to the pope in many important articles, but 
willingly and very honestly reverenced him. For who was I, a miser- 
able, despised monk, then more resembling a corpse than a living man, 
that I should oppose myself to the majesty of the pope ? Those self- 
confident spirits, who afterwards attacked the pope with great pride and 
presumption, know but little of the sufferings and inflictions which my 
heart experienced during the first and second year ; and of the not pre- 
tended or imaginary, but real humility in which I then lived. I, who 
stuck fast in the road, was not so cheerful or so confident of my case ; 
for then I was ignorant of many things which now I know, thank God ! 
I only carried on the dispute, and was eager to be taught; but as I 
could not derive sufficient instruction from the works of the dead nor 
from the dull teachers, that is to say, from the writings of the theolo- 
gians and jurists, I sought for advice from the living, and to hear the 
church of God itself. There I found indeed many pious men much 
pleased with my propositions ; but at that time I deemed it impossible 
to recognise and acknowledge them as members of the church imbued 
with the Holy Ghost, and looked solely to the pope, cardinals, bishops, 
theologians, jurists, monks, and priests. From them I looked for the 
Holy Ghost; for I had so eagerly adopted their doctrine, that it stupified 
me, and I knew not whether I was awake or asleep. Only when, by 
the help of the Scriptures, I had got over all the arguments which op- 
posed me, I did at length, by the grace of God, and with much anxiety, 
trouble, and labour, overcome the last, — namely, that we ought to hear 
the church. For I believed the pope's church to be the true church 



112 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 

much more seriously and reverently than those shameful perverters who 
praise the pope's church so highly, in opposition to my views." 

The above observations furnish a key to many expressions of entire 
subjection which he was still able to make use of while addressing the 
pope. When he forwarded to Leo X., through Staupitz, the treatise 
for the establishment and further extension of his theses {resolutiones 
or probationes), he addressed him at the conclusion of his letter in terms 
which astonish Us, as coming from one who subsequently declared the 
pope to be Antichrist : {i Therefore, most holy father, I throw myself 
at the feet of your holiness, and resign myself to you, with all that 
I am and possess. Let your holiness deal with me according to your 
pleasure. It rests with your holiness to agree or "to 'differ from my 
statement ; to declare me to be either right or wrong ; to grant me life 
or to take it away. Let the consequence be what it may, I will ac- 
knowledge that the voice of your holiness is the voice of Christ, who 
acteth and speaketh through it. If I have merited death, I shall not 
refuse to die ; for the earth is the Lord's, and all that is in it : praise be 
to him for ever and ever ! " 

The arrogant and vehement literary conflict begun against him by 
Sylvester Prierias, a Dominican of Rome, Dr. John Eck at Ingold- 
stadt, and Jacob Hoogstraaten at Cologne, notorious as the judge of 
heretics, with their scholastic weapons, was only the prelude to more 
serious proceedings. He was cited to Rome to defend himself; but 
obtained, through princely interest, the favour of a hearing in Germany. 
He believed that before Cardinal Cajetan de Yio, the pope's legate 
in Germany, he might appeal successfully, not only to the holy Scrip- 
tures and to common sense, but also to the fathers and to decrees, to 
prove the justice of his theses. He firmly declined to recant ; and saved 
himself from violence, and perhaps assassination, only by a sudden and 
secret departure (Oct. 20, 1518), 

It was uncertain, some time after his return, whether he would be 
allowed to remain at Wittenberg, or be compelled to eat the bread of 
sorrow as a homeless wanderer, to languish in prison, or die upon the 
scaffold. These were the days of his spiritual heroism ; the grandest in 
history, if we estimate grandeur by sublimity of character. Even before 
the examination at Augsburg, he was resigned to all that might befall 
him: "If they execute my poor body," he wrote to Staupitz, "by 
violence or treachery, they deprive me only of a few hours. I have 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 113 

satisfaction for all this in my sweet Redeemer and Mediator, whom I 
will praise as long as I live." After his hearing, he thought of going 
to Paris, if his elector could or would not protect him: "I daily expect 
the anathema from Rome ; therefore I put every thing in readiness, that I 
may be guided and prepared to go, with Abraham, I know not whither; 
but I go in perfect security, because God is every where." 

He saw that he had entered on a career where standing still was 
impossible, and where he had no choice left but cowardly to recede, 
contrary to the dictates of his conscience, or advance boldly against 
Rome. " If I remain here," he wrote on the 2d of December 1518 (at 
Wittenberg), "I shall be deprived of liberty of speech and writing; but 
if I leave, I may resign all, and sacrifice my life to Christ." He wrote 
his appeal to a council to be convened hereafter, and received permis- 
sion from the Elector Frederick to remain at Wittenberg. The move- 
ment once begun, it continued to ferment mightily in his mind: " My 
pen is pregnant with greater matters ; I know not myself whence these 
thoughts arise in me ; it is my opinion, that this matter is not as yet 
properly begun." 

Soon afterwards a skilful attempt was made from the other side to 
touch those chords in Luther's mind which might attune him to subject 
tion to ecclesiastical authority. His piety and reverence, innate. and 
acquired, for the existing authorities of the church of Rome, for tra- 
dition and history; his dread of the impending schism, and the awful 
responsibility it involved, — made him easily accessible to the remon- 
strances of a dexterous papal envoy, Charles Miltitz the Saxon (Jan. 
1519). The cunning policy of the nuncio, already intimidated and 
disposed to mild measures by the expression of public opinion in Ger- 
many against Rome, nearly succeeded in swaying the obnoxious doctor 
of Altenburg. It went so far, that Luther declared himself willing to 
admonish every one to obedience to the church of Rome ; and at the 
same time to confess that he had declared the truth with too much 
warmth, and perhaps at the wrong time ; he also promised to write hum- 
bly to the pope, and to be thenceforth entirely silent upon the points 
that had been debated, provided his opponents observed silence like- 
wise. " I bear witness," he wrote to Leo X., March 3d, 1519, "before 
God and his creatures, that I never intended, nor do this day intend, 
— that I never seriously proposed to attack the power of the church of 
Rome and of your holiness in any w r ay, or to detract from it by crafti- 



114 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

ness. Yes, I freely bear witness that the power of this church stands 
above all ; and that nothing in heaven or on earth should be preferred 
before her, save Jesus Christ, Lord over all." 

In the pamphlet intended for the instruction and pacification of 
the people, " Dr. Martin Luther's Exposition of several Articles which 
have been pointed out and ascribed to him by his unfriends," he cau- 
tions his readers in the most decisive terms against separation from 
Rome : " Although things in Rome might well be better, still neither 
this nor any other reason is great enough to cause us to tear ourselves 
away or separate from the church. Indeed, the worse it is, the more 
we ought to run and cling to it ; for schism and contempt will not mend 
it. . . . Nor ought we to forsake God for the sake of the devil." 

Thus it appeared as if the religious and spiritual movement which, 
at a later period, became the very soul of modern history, was to ex- 
haust itself at its source ; or, as Luther himself says, " bleed to death." 
Or may we conclude that even without Luther, or in despite of him, 
the movement, once begun, would have continued and reached, its object? 
To such questions we have no other answers than suppositions accord- 
ing to analogies; 'the more important fact for us is, that Luther was not 
silent, as he had first intended. 

Dr. Eck gave occasion for the fresh outbreak by the publication of 
theses which he meant to defend at Leipzic against Luther's colleague 
Karlstadt. Luther saw himself attacked in them; and set up against 
Eck's assertion of the permanent supremacy of the church of Rome 
the counter thesis, that this supremacy was founded only upon papal 
decrees issued during the last four hundred years, in contradiction 
to the accredited history of eleven hundred years, and against the 
text of the Word of God, and against the Council of Nice. In the 
midst of the historical and exegetical studies with which he prepared 
himself for the disputations at Leipzic (27th of June to 13th of July, 
1519), it appeared as if the Scriptures and history left him only the 
doubt as to 6i whether the pope was Antichrist himself, or only his 
apostle ?" This was said in confidence to Spalatin ; in his writings at 
that time he still expressed himself with much greater prudence ; for 
instance, in his epistle to the Galatians : " I give the highest honour to 
the Roman bishop and his decrees, above which there is none, other ; 
and I except no one but the sovereign of this vicegerent, Jesus Christ, his 
Lord and the Lord of us all." But when he declares here, that he would 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 113 

examine the word and the work of the vicegerent by the word of Christ, 
he places himself, in fact, already above papal authority, by asserting 
the right of appeal to a higher spiritual authority. Thus he had already 
taken the position of Evangelical Protestantism, before the name of Pro- 
testant was known. The confidence of his soul at this time is breathed 
forth in the words to Spalatin : " The truth will be maintained by its 
own right hand, not by mine, nor thine, nor any man's hand." 

The most important result of the Leipzic disputations was, that 
Luther maintained against Eck the idea of " Jesus Christ only being the 
head of the church militant, and that the pope held the primacy only 
by human and not by divine right." And when he did not shrink from 
the conclusion, " that some of the articles of Huss and the Bohemians 
were Christian and evangelical," he stepped beyond the boundaries of the 
authority of the councils. His new evangelical view of the importance 
of the laity, so called, w T as made clear in the demand that at the Uni- 
versities of Paris and Erfurt, appointed to arbitrate in the disputations 
at Leipzic, all the faculties, and not the faculty of divinity alone, should 
have votes. Although he behaved so boldly at Leipzic, he yet felt after- 
wards astonished that he could have ascribed so much authority to the 
pope : " Now see and learn, Christian reader, by my case, how difficult 
it is to cast off and get free from such errors as the whole world confirms 
by its example, and which by long habit have become second nature." 

An eye-witness of the disputations at Leipzic, Petrus Mosellanus, 
gives the following description of Luther as he appeared at that time : 
" Martin is of middle height, and so much worn with care and study, 
that one might count all his bones, if one saw him near. His voice 
is clear and piercing, his learning and knowledge of the Scriptures 
admirable ; when speaking, he is never at a loss for matter or expres- 
sion. Civil and kindly, neither gloomy nor proud in company, he is 
always self-possessed, and shows a cheerful face whatever his enemies 
may plot against him. They reproach him generally with one thing 
only, that in rebuking others he is more inconsiderate and severe than 
becomes a theological reformer, or indeed any theologian." 

After the disputations at Leipzic, Luther once more exchanged 
the two-edged sword of oral preaching for the pen, in polemical writings 
against the Franciscans, against Emser. Even thus early the Bohemians 
addressed to him the encouraging words : " What Huss once was for 
Bohemia, that art thou, Martin Luther, for Saxony." 



116 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



Luther's position became again as uncertain and insecure (from the 
autumn of 1519 until the summer of 1520) as in the winter of 1518, 
after the examination at Augsburg. On the 14th of January, 1520, 
he wrote: "I have given up and resigned myself to the Lord. His 
will be done I Who has asked him to make a doctor of me? But having 
made me one, let him protect me, or destroy me, if he repent him of it. 
This temptation does not frighten me at all." To the warnings of his 
friend Spalatin, who became alarmed at the increasing number of his 
enemies at the electoral court, he replied : " There is no fear that thou 
shouldst become too clever, any more than that I should become too silly. 
If thou think justly of the Gospel, thou canst not expect that this should 
end without offence, noise, and revolt. Thou canst not change the sword 
into a feather, or war into peace. God's word itself is sword, war, over- 
throw, offence. God carries me away with him ; let him see what he can 
make of me: for I have the certain conviction that in all this I have 
sought and prayed for nothing of my own impulse, — it hath been wrung 
from me by the wrath of others. Be of good courage, and heed not 

what is visible; faith is the foundation of what we do not see 

I seek nothing. Whether I stand or fall, I lose nothing, and I gain 
nothing." 

No one could speak thus, who had not thrown himself with his 
whole soul into a great and holy cause, and identified himself with 
all its cares and hopes. Such words of Christian heroism as the above 
belong to the most sublime part of Luther's life ; they outweigh, if 
justly and truly recorded, and regarded with sympathy for what is holy 
in man's nature, all his faults and imperfections. When he saw his 
writings condemned by the universities of Cologne and Louvaine, his 
enemies at court increase in number and virulence, nay even his life 
threatened by assassins, he prepared for expatriation; many times he 
was ready to retreat to Bohemia for concealment. " I am ever willing to 
be silent," he writes, July 9th, 1520, " if they will not attempt to silence 
the truth of the Gospel. They may obtain any thing from me, nay I 
will give all of my own free will, so they leave the way of salvation free 

to Christians I want no cardinal's hat, nor gold ; nothing of all 

that they hold dearest at Rome. But if I cannot obtain this, they may 
take from me my office, and let me live and die solitary in a corner." 

The encouraging address of the Franconian knights, Ulrich von Hut- 
ten and Sylvester von Schauenburg, fell upon him like lightning in 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 117 



the very midst of his uncertainty. Already, in the beginning of the 
year 1520, Hutten had secretly, through Melanchthon, offered the pro- 
tection of Francis von Sickingen ; he now wrote (June 4): "It is said 
that ye are outlawed and excommunicated. Oh, how blessed are you, 
Luther ! what a happy man are you ! for of you all God-fearing hearts 
will say and sing, ' They take arms against the soul of the righteous, and 
condemn innocent blood ; but the Lord will repay them for their un- 
righteousness.' What a misfortune and affliction would it bring upon 
all Christianity, if you were now to fall away !" In the letter from 
Sylvester von Schauenburg (June 11th), he was entreated not to fly into 
Bohemia, if the elector should withdraw his protection ; " for I, and, 
as I think, an hundred of the nobility, whom, please God, I mean to 
raise, will stand faithfully by you, and will protect you against all 
danger from your enemies, as long as your opinions are unrefuted by a 
general Christian assembly, or by trustworthy and sensible judges, or 
you be better instructed." 

These letters had an influence upon Luther not easily to be mis- 
taken, freeing him gradually from all considerations for the elector and 
the university : " The die is cast ; the favour or wrath of the Romish 
party is despised. I will never be reconciled to them, nor have any 
thing in common with them. Let them condemn and burn my books ! 
I, in return, will condemn and publicly burn the whole papal law, 
this many-headed dragon of heresies ; and there shall be an end to that 
humiliation which I have hitherto endured and exhibited in vain." 

In the summer and autumn of the same year (1520), three addresses 
were written, containing the signal for the Reformation in its first fresh- 
ness, entitled : "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation ;" 
" Of the Babylonian Captivity of the Church ;" " On the Liberty of the 
Christian." Whoever wishes to become acquainted with the guiding and 
impelling principle of the spiritual struggle in Germany against Rome in 
its original form, must refer again and again to these most important 
documents, which prove the yet unsubdued demand for reformation. 

One day, Luther, while travelling with Lorenz Suess, exclaimed 
while he rose from prayer : " Now I have charged my gun ; if it go 
off well, it must take effect. I will write an address to the German 
nobility ; if that succeed, and they hear the word of God, you shall see 
what will come of it !" The little treatise, the design of which was 
then first conceived in his mind, was no other than his " Address to the 

P 



118 



A SKETCH OE THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



Christian Nobility of the German Nation concerning the Amendment of 
the Christian Estate" (July). This was a step of incalculable import- 
ance ; for by it he called upon the laity (deemed unworthy in the 
Romish view) for assistance against the hierarchical system, that he 
might bring about the necessary reformation in the affairs of the church, 
notwithstanding the opposition of Rome and its priests, by means of 
public opinion and the powerful co-operation of the people. " The 
time for silence is past," he says, in his dedication to Nicholaus von 
Amsdorf, " and the time for speaking has come." He meant to try 
" whether God would help his church by means of the laity ; since the 
clergy, to whom the task more properly belonged, had become wholly 
indifferent." 

In the introduction he addresses himself to the emperor and the 
nobility, warning them not to begin by trusting in their own power 
and understanding. Former emperors had, perhaps, been overcome in 
their struggles against the popes, for the very reason that they had 
relied upon their own power rather than on God ; because (we may say) 
they defended a political principle rather than a religious one. " We 
must here, despairing of earthly power, attack the enemy with humble 
trust in God and keep before our eyes only the distressed con- 
dition of Christianity. Without this, the beginning might be promising; 
but as we proceed, the evil principle will create such a confusion, that 
the whole world may swim in blood, and yet no good ensue." Here 
we have, on the threshold of the revolution, the sober wisdom of the 
true reformer, who does not seek to enforce by violence a spiritual 
principle ; he does not seek to attain a pure object by impure means, 
by enlisting vulgar and selfish impulses in its cause. 

His view of the Romish system, and his attack on it, were based on 
three leading ideas: " The Romanists have thrown up three bulwarks, 
behind which they have hitherto intrenched themselves so well, that no 
one hath been able to reform them. 

" 1. That temporal power has no right over them; that spiritual is 
superior to temporal power. 

" 2. No one but the pope may interpret the Scriptures. 

" 3. No one but the pope can convene a council." 

While attacking this triple spiritual bulwark of popery, he is deeply 
impressed with the fact, that he is entering on one of the most memorable 
spiritual battles in the history of the world : " Now, God help us, and 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 119 

give us one of those trumpets by which the walls of Jericho were over- 
thrown, that we may also overthrow with a blast those walls of straw or 
paper, and set free the rod of Christian truth for the punishment of 
sinners, and expose to the light of day the cunning and deceit of the 
devil !" The most powerful spiritual influences were brought to bear 
upon these three bulwarks ; to principles he opposed principles, to 
ancient worn-out conceptions he opposed new ones, whose freshness was 
hailed with sympathy by the nation. When Rome appealed to the 
sovereignty of the church over the state, Luther addressed the patriotic 
spirit of the peoples, the now-matured consciousness of political dignity 
and independence, and the spiritual and religious importance of the 
Christian state. When Rome claimed for the pope the exclusive right 
to interpret the Scriptures, Luther rejected all submission of the original 
Christian religion to human arbitration, and insisted on the right to 
individual religious opinion and liberty. And when the pope, in the 
third of the above propositions, reserved to himself the prerogative of 
convening a council, Luther regarded this as a mere tyrannical attempt 
to deprive the church of some of its original and inalienable rights. 

While attacking that " first bulwark of Romanism," he rises to the 
sublime idea of evangelical Protestantism, so rich in consequences, to 
the recognition of the common priesthood of Christians ; the idea which 
contains in itself an inexhaustible supply of the reformatory elements 
for all future ages, and either renders the relapse of Christianity into 
hierarchical apathy impossible, or at least always assures it the victory 
again. " All Christians are truly of priestly rank, and admit of no 

distinction, unless arising from office For baptism, the gospel, 

and faith only, make Christians and priests. The pope's anointing, 
the tonsure, ordaining and consecrating, may make hypocrites and 
noodles, but never can make a man a Christian or spiritual. For by 
baptism we are all consecrated priests." With this idea the emanci- 
pation of coming times was pronounced ; the torch was lighted which 
was to guide a new period, and which, in its turn, has preserved the 
blessed right to freedom of conscience. Every subsequent effort for 
free spiritual progress and vital religion has emanated from this convic- 
tion ; and the great day at Worms was, in fact, only the public assertion 
of this grand principle. 

When Luther asserted what follows, it was his object to destroy 
at the very root all false priestly pretensions : " If there were no 






120 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 

higher consecration in us than that which pope or bishop confers, priests 
would never be made by the consecration of pope or bishops ; and to 
speak still more clearly, if a small body of pious Christian laity placed 
in a wilderness, without a priest consecrated by a bishop, were to agree 
among themselves and appoint one, whether married or not, to baptize, 
read masses, absolve, and preach, he would be as truly a priest as if the 
pope and all the bishops had consecrated him. Therefore, a priesthood 
among Christians must be only official : because he holds office, he has 
precedence ; as soon as he is deposed, he is a peasant or a citizen like 
others." 

The idea of a common priesthood necessarily leads to a higher spi- 
ritual conception of the state and all moral actions and endeavours ; the 
state, as well as the general moral development of human nature, was 
looked upon and esteemed as an element of Christianity, as an essential 
portion of the kingdom of heaven : " We all are one body, of which 
Jesus Christ is the head ; every one is a member of the other. Christ has 
not two bodies, or two sorts of bodies, one temporal and the other spiritual. 

He is one head, and has one body Therefore should the temporal 

Christian power exercise its office freely and unhindered, not heeding 
whether the individual it attacks be pope, bishop, or priest. What the 
ecclesiastical law hath said against this, is the pure invention of Romish 
presumption. Temporal (political) power has become part or a mem- 
ber of the Christian body ; and although its functions be temporal, yet 
is its nature spiritual." 

The second bulwark of the church of Rome, " that she alone had 
the right to interpret the Scriptures," Luther overthrows by those un- 
equivocal declarations of Holy Writ which emphatically represent the 
individual spirit of Christianity, the right to freedom of conscience : 
" 'Every Christian is taught of God.' ' He that is spiritual judges all 
things.' ' We have all one spirit of faith.' These and many other texts 
should make us courageous and free, and prevent our suffering the 
spirit of libert} 7 , as St. Paul calls it, to be frightened away by the inven- 
tions of the popes ; but lead us freely to judge all they do or cause to be 
done, by our believing knowledge of the Scriptures ; and force them also 

to be quieted, not by their own understanding, but by a better 

If God spoke to a prophet by the mouth of an ass, why should he not 
speak now to a pope by the mouth of a pious man ? . . . . Therefore 
it behoves every Christian to stand by the faith." 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 121 

The third Romish bulwark, " that the pope alone is empowered to 
call a council, or confirm its decrees," must fall of itself, after the over- 
throw of the other two : " For if the pope act contrary to the Scriptures, 
we are hound to stand by the Scriptures, and to correct him according 
to the word of Christ (Matt, xviii. 15-17). If lam to complain of him 

before the community, I must first call it together Therefore, if 

necessity command, and the pope give offence to Christendom, he that 
is most capable, as a faithful member of the whole body, shall take steps 
for the convening of a truly free council. Nothing can effect this so well 
as the temporal sivord: particularly as the laity are now Christians and 
priests equally with us ; spiritual and powerful in all things like our- 
selves ; and are to discharge their office and their work, which God hath 

appointed, freely towards every one There is no power in the 

church except for amendment : if the pope, therefore, seeks to use his 
power of interference with a free council, to prevent such amendment 
of the church, we must not regard him or his power ; and should he 
thunder out excommunications and curses, we must despise it, as the 
proceeding of a madman, and excommunicate him in his turn, in full re- 
liance upon God. 

" In this way, I hope, the false and lying threats with which the 
church of Rome has for a long time intimidated us, will be repelled, 
and it, like ourselves, be subject to temporal authority ; and be no longer 
suffered to interpret the Scriptures without skill, and so as to do violence 
to their true meaning ; nor have power to prevent the calling together of 
councils. And if she do so, she is truly of the community of Antichrist 
and of the devil, having nothing of Christ but the name." 

His practical propositions in this treatise tend principally to the con- 
fiscation of all the papal revenues, and depriving the pope of all juris- 
diction over the emperor. In connexion with these two points he also 
insists upon the limitation of monastic orders, the abolition of celibacy 
among the clergy, and the reform of the system of indulgences and of 
universities and schools. 

A few months afterwards (in the beginning of October) appeared 
" The little book of the Babylonian Captivity of the Church," in which 
he attacked another main pillar of the Roman Catholicism of the middle 
ages, — the doctrine of the seven sacraments. He states energetically and 
positively, in the very outset of this work, that it was the real necessity 
of the case, and the insufficiency of the opposing arguments, which led 



122 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

him, by one discovery after another, further and further from Rome : 
"Whether I will or no, I am made more learned day by day." The 
whole outward form of the church as then existing, more particularly 
the idea of a separate and exclusively privileged priesthood, rested upon 
the Catholic doctrine of the sacraments : to attack that doctrine was, 
therefore, tantamount to questioning the entire form of Catholicism ; 
and Luther did not conceal from himself the vast range of this under- 
taking : "I presume to meddle with a weighty matter, which it may 
not perhaps be possible to overthrow ; because, having been confirmed 
by long usage, and received by common assent, it is so completely, inter- 
woven with all, that the greater number of the books now accredited, 
nay the whole form of the church, must be put aside and changed, and an 
entirely different code of ceremonies be introduced or re-established. But 
my Saviour liveth ; and we must give greater heed to the word of God 
than to the thoughts of men and angels." He recognised only the 
three sacraments common to all Christians — baptism, communion, and 
penance — as founded on the word of Christ, and therefore binding and 
necessary ; — another progressive step towards the self-liberation of the 
church from the, " Babylonian captivity" of priestly dominion and of 
the levitical Romish ordinances ; a victorious step towards the liberation 
of spiritual Christianity from the perishable and oppressive form with 
which it had been gradually invested. 

Shortly afterwards (in the middle of October), the third of these im- 
pressive writings, in which Luther's warfare with Rome was carried on, 
made its appearance — the discourse " On the Liberty of the Christian." 
He explains a Christian liberty as dominion over and servitude under all 
things : dominion, because through faith we receive communion with 
the Lord of all things ; and servitude, because love impels us to serve 
all our brethren. According to his divine nature (this is Luther's idea), 
man is above all wants, except God and his word ; the certainty of an 
eternal worth and a blessed existence alone constitute his true nourish- 
ment. According to his material nature, on the contrary, he is allied to 
the dust, of which he can free himself only through love and communion. 
All material possession is given us only to assist our neighbour with it 
in true love, " because every one has sufficient for himself in his faith." 
This is the language of a most noble religious idealism : only me who 
knows and loves the spiritual and eternal good is raised above temporal 
good, and has power to look upon and treat all earthly things merely as 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 123 



the means and instruments of love. " Nothing external can make the 
spiritual man free or pious ; none of these things reach the soul, either 

to make it free or to enslave it, to make it good or bad We must 

thus be convinced that the soul may dispense with all things, except the 
word of God; and without the word of God, no other thing is of use. . . . 
And Christ has come for no other end but to preach the word of God. 
Also the apostles, bishops, priests, and all the clergy have been called 
and instituted solely for the sake of the word, — although now, alas ! 
things are different. But if thou askest, ' Which is the word that giveth 
such exceeding mercy, and how shall I use it V — answer : It is nothing 
else but the teaching of Christ which is contained in the Gospel ; which 
is expressed and carried out in such a way, that thou nearest, as it 
were, thy God speak to thee, saying that all thy life and thy works are 
as nothing before him, but that thou must eternally perish with all that 
is in thee. The which, if thou truly believest, will make thee doubt thy- 
self. .... But that thou mayestbe rid of all that is of thee and in thee, 
— that is to say, thy corruption, — God setteth before thee his beloved 
Son, Jesus Christ, and tells thee through his living and consoling word, 
thou shalt resign thyself to him with steadfast faith, and sincerely trust 
in him. Then, for the sake of that faith, shall all thy sins be forgiven 
thee, all thy corruption conquered ; thou shalt be just, true, pious, free 
from all things ; and all commandments shall be fulfilled. ... In faith, 
thou possessest all things ; without faith, thou hast none. . . . Such as 
the word is, such the spirit becometh through it ; even as iron becometh fiery 
red like fire through contact with it. . . . That is Christian liberty, — the 
only faith which doth not cause us to live idly or do evil, but simply 

teaches we need no works to obtain holiness and salvation Not 

only doth faith give so much, that it makes the soul like the divine word; 
but it also unites the soul with Christ, as a bride with her bridegroom : 
from which union it results that Christ and the soul become one, and 
that the possessions of both, in despite of the fall {Fall oder Unfall), be- 
come common between them : that which Christ possesses becometh the 
property of the believing soul ; what the soul hath is Christ's. So all 
the possessions and blessedness of Christ are the soul's. So Christ takes 
upon himself all the sins and vices of the soul. Hence springs the 

blessed antagonism that Christ is God and man As he taketh 

upon himself the sins of the believing soul through the wedding-ring, 
that is to say, through faith ; so must all sins be drowned and absorbed 



124 



A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



in him For his triumphant righteousness is too strong for all 

sins Therefore is faith only the righteousness of man, and the 

keeping all the commandments ; for whoever fulfilleth the first principal 
commandment — ' Thou shalt honour thy God' — keeps assuredly and 

easily all other commandments This is nothing else but the piety 

of the heart; this is the head and the whole being of holiness Now 

from all this it follows, that a Christian lives not for himself only, but in 
Christ and in his neighbour; in Christ through faith, in his neighbour 
through love. Through faith he rises above himself in God ; from God 
he descends again below himself through love, and yet remains ever in 
God and divine love. Behold, this is true Christian liberty! — which 
surpasses all other liberty as much as heaven surpasses earth." 

The above passages regarding faith and the word it was necessary to 
give at length, in order to obtain a clear perception of what is charac- 
teristic and decided in Luther's peculiar views. These peculiar views in 
the spirit of the Apostle Paul and of the Father Augustin were for him 
the imperfect utterance of the (to us all) inexpressible and inconceivable 
mystery of divine grace. We repeat, this was his manner of expressing 
himself, which we may confidently adapt to our own wants and experi- 
ences, if our comprehension of the Scriptures, of our own heart, and of 
the ways of God in history, lead us to explain to ourselves the mystery 
of divine love and mercy in other combinations and in other images and 
comparisons. The essential point which Luther strove in his language 
to make most emphatic, was ever only the consoling idea of free un- 
merited grace, which extends salvation and blessedness to him who resigns 
himself in penitence and faith ; it was therefore, above all things, that 
view of Christianity which gives rest and peace to an awakened con- 
science, and seeks all that is most holy in religion in the inmost ex- 
perience of the heart. 



II. The Rupture, 

"While Luther was writing these three important treatises, the bull 
against him had already been issued at Rome, but without his know- 
ledge. Before he saw it, he had been prevailed upon by Miltitz to 
make one more attempt at conciliation. In October 1520, after Dr. 
Eck had begun publishing the pa£>al bull in Saxony, Luther once again 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 125 



wrote to Leo X., to whom he had dedicated (under date Sept. 6, ante- 
dating five weeks, that he might ignore the bull) his treatise " On the 
Liberty of a Christian." " I bring with me a little book," he says in 
his letter, " as a token of good will and beginning of peace, by which 
your holiness will perceive how I would wish to proceed, if your un- 
christian flatterers would allow me. It is a very little book, and yet is 
the whole sum of a Christian life contained in it, if the true sense be 
understood." 

In this remarkable letter Luther draws a clear distinction between 
the pope as an individual and the papal chair or cure. " Indeed, your 
reputation and the fame of your life are so renowned all over the world, 
through the reports of many most learned men, that no one would 

venture to attack you Therefore I pray, holy father Leo, that 

thou wouldst accept my apology, and look upon me as one who never 

intended thee any harm, and wishes thee all that is good In all 

things I would willingly give way to others ; but the word of God. I 

can and will not forsake or deny But it is true I have boldly 

attacked the Roman see, which is called the court of Rome ; of which 
thou thyself must acknowledge that it is worse and more infamous than 
ever a Sodom and Gomorrah or Babylon was. And, as far as I can 
observe, its corruption is not to be cured or amended; every thing about 
it hath become desperate and beyond conception. Therefore I felt 
vexed that they should deceive and injure poor people every where in 
thy name, and under the cloak of the church of Rome. This I have 
opposed, and will continue to oppose as long as a Christian spirit lives 

within me For it is not concealed from thee thyself, how for 

many past years nothing but corruption of soul, body, and property, and 
the most injurious examples of evil-doing, have gone out into the world 
from Rome ; through which the church of Rome, which in former times 
was most holy, has now become a pit of destruction beyond all pits of 
destruction, a den of thieves beyond all dens of thieves, the head and 
front of sin, death, and damnation ; so that one could scarcely conceive 
any increase of wickedness, even if Antichrist himself were to come. 

" In the meantime thou, holy father Leo, sittest like a sheep among the 
wolves, like Daniel in the lions' den, like Ezekiel among the scorpions. 
What canst thou do alone among so many savage monstrosities (wilder 
Wunder) ? And even if three or four learned and pious cardinals were 
to stand by thee, how little is that among such swarms ! Ye would be 

Q 



126 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

destroyed by poison, ere ye could begin to amend the matter. There is 
an end of the Roman see. . . . The wrath of God hath fallen upon it un- 
ceasingly. . . . That is the cause why I have ever been sorry that thou 
hast at this time become pope, thou pious Leo, who niightest have been 
worthy of this office in better times. The papal chair is not worthy of 
thee now ; rather should the spirit of evil be pope, which indeed ruleth 
more than thou dost in Babylon. If St. Bernard laments over his Pope 
Eugenius, when the papal chair still ruled with good hopes of amend- 
ment, how much more should we lament over thee, because in the last 
three hundred years corruption and folly have irremediably gained 
ground ! Is it not true that there is nothing worse under the wide hea- 
vens, nothing more pestilential or odious, than the court of Rome ? 

" See, then, my lord and father, the reason why I have so roughly 
handled this pestilential chair ; indeed, I have been in hopes that I 
should merit thy grace and thanks for attacking thy prison, nay thy 
hell, so vigorously and boldly. ... It would never have entered my 
heart to act angrily against the court of Rome ; for seeing that it could 
not be amended, I have despised it ; have therefore given myself up to 
the quiet, peaceful study of the Scriptures, that I might become useful 
to those among whom I dwell. As in this I did not prove unsuccessful, 
the spirit of evil opened his eyes and became aware of it ; he quickly, in 
foolish ambition, roused up the distinguished enemy of Christ and of 
truth, in his servant John Eck, and inspired him that he should draw 
me unawares into a disputation, and ensnare me in some expression 
which might accidentally escape me against the papacy." 

After having explained how he had been drawn more and more 
deeply into the opposition to Romish abuses by Eck and Cardinal 
Cajetan, — although he would much rather have pursued " quieter and 
more useful studies," — he once more, according to the propositions of 
Miltitz, attempts a compromise with the pope : " Therefore I now 
approach, holy father Leo, and at thy feet I pray that thou wilt, if pos- 
sible, bridle thy flatterers, who are the enemies of peace, and yet cry 
out for peace. Recant my doctrine I never icill ; nor let any one at- 
tempt to make me, unless he wish to throw the matter into still greater 
confusion. Nor ivill I endure rule or limit in the interpretation of Scrip- 
ture ; because the word of God, which teaches true liberty, neither 
shall nor ought to be constrained. If these two points be granted me, 
there can be nothing else proposed which I will not do and sutler with 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 127 

all my heart. I am an enemy to strife ; I do not wish to excite or stir up 
any one ; but if I be stirred up, I shall not be silent either with tongue 
or pen. Your holiness may, with a few easy short words, put an end to 
all these vehement disputes, and command silence and peace. 

" Then do not listen to those who sing sweetly in thine ear ; who say 
that thou art not a mere man, but blended with God. . . . Thou art a 
servant of all the servants of God, and in a more dangerous position 
than any other man on earth. Be not deceived by those who lie and dis- 
semble to thee, saying thou art master of the world ; and who deem no 
one a Christian, unless he be subject to thee ; who prate as if thou hadst 
power in heaven, in hell, and in purgatory. They are thine enemies, 
and seek to destroy thy soul. . . . They are all in error who say that 
thou standest above the council and the body of Christendom, they err 
who attribute to thee exclusively the power to interpret the Scriptures. 
. ... In short, believe no one who extols thee, but only those who 
humiliate thee. That is God's will." 

Could Luther seriously believe in the possibility of producing any 
effect upon the pope by words such as these ? Such a supposition 
can, at all events, be accounted for only by complete ignorance and 
an over-estimate of Leo X.'s vigour and stability of character. It was, 
in fact, expecting from the voluptuous Medici strength sufficient of 
his own accord to reform the papacy in the spirit of the Gospel and of 
the ancient church ; freely to descend from the intoxicating theory of 
ecclesiastical supremacy to the humble evangelical scheme of one super- 
intendent leading bishop presiding at the Christian councils, subject to 
the newly- awakened public spirit but lately brought to maturity, and 
also to the increasing knowledge of the community, now boldly strug- 
gling upwards. And even if the pope had been capable of so great a 
resolution, it is yet a question which we are scarcely able to answer, 
whether the corruption in the condition of the Romish church, which 
had proceeded so far, could have borne such an attempt to cure it ; 
or whether the deep incision which Luther had made was not unavoid- 
able and indispensable. 

This only is certain, that the above attempt at reconciliation made 
by Miltitz and Luther had not the slightest practical consequences ; for 
the papal bull, dated June 4, 1520, which pronounced Luther's excom- 
munication if he did not recant within sixty days, was in the meantime 
actively circulated by Dr. Eck, who had brought it with him from 



128 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

Rome. Luther felt that he ought not to be silent : at first he directed 
his arms against the vaunting servant, then against the misguided mas- 
ter alone ; first against Eck, next against the pope. In the pamphlet 
against Eck (On Eck's new Bulls and Lies, end of October), he, how- 
ever, pretended not to believe in the validity of the bull, assuming it 
to be a fabrication of Dr. Eck's ; because the negotiations with Mil- 
titz had not yet been broken off, and the pope would not have confided 
the publication of the bull of excommunication to his (Luther's) most 
furious enemy. " I also hear it said that Dr. Eck hath brought with 
him from Rome a bull against me, said to be so like him, that it 
might be called Dr. Eck, it is so full of lies and errors ; and that he 
pretends it is the pope's work, although it is his own lying trick." He 
nevertheless renews his appeal to a general council ; the composition 
of which he presumes to be in conformity with the doctrine of the 
common priesthood of Christians, not hierarchical, but a free Christian 
assembly, in which the so-called laity was to be represented. "And 
I do not strive unreasonably for a free council, in which not only the 
least learned bishops and the coarsest and maddest sophists, as at Cost- 
nitz, but also wise, experienced princes, nobles, and others of the laity 
should have a seat ; for now even our matrons understand more of 
the Bible and of other Christian matters than Dr. Eck and his fellow- 
sophists." 

A month later (Nov. 1520) he directly attacked the bull, the ge- 
nuineness of which could no longer be questioned, in the pamphlet, 
" Against the Bull of Antichrist." Now only, when the pope had openly 
broken with him, did he feel himself free from all restraint and consi- 
deration ; now only did he receive a decided proof of the anti- Christian 
falling away of the papacy, in the fact that the bull sentenced to be 
burnt all his writings without exception ; while he was more certain of 
this than of his life, that, with all their human imperfections and excres- 
cences, they contained the pure apostolical doctrine. cc Tf I knew that 
the pope at Rome had issued this bull, and that it was not invented by 
that arch-lier and knave, Dr. Eck, I would call on all Christians to 
regard the pope as nothing better than Antichrist. And if he do not 
cease his scandalous and public prohibition of our holding the true 
faith, the temporal sword ought to resist him with exultation, more 
readily than any infidel {Turkeri). 

" Let every one aid who deems himself a Christian; let him stand 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 129 



by his faith, and by all poor simple souls who are tempted by such great 

soul-murderers and wolves unto death and damnation If the 

pope do not condemn and recall this bull, then no one will doubt that the 
pope is God's enemy, Christ's persecutor, the desolator of Christendom, 
and the real Antichrist; for I have never yet heard that any one hath 
condemned the Christian faith as this hellish and accursed bull doth." 

There occur expressions of wrath in this pamphlet which might be 
interpreted as an open summons to the destruction of the Romish church 
by violent means : " What wonder, if princes, nobles, and others were 
to hit on the- head the pope, bishops, monks, and priests, and drive 
them out of the country ! .... I hope it is now clear that it is not 
Dr. Luther, but the pope himself, with bishops, priests, and monks, 
who strive, by means of this slanderous and infamous bull, for their own 
destruction, and bring the laity upon them." Similar expressions of 
the most violent irritation, not shrinking from extremities, are met 
with throughout this excited period of world-wide schism : "If we 
punish thieves with the rope, murderers with the sword, and heretics 
with fire, why do we not also attack with all and any weapons these 
baneful teachers of corruption, the popes, cardinals, bishops, and the 
whole swarm of the Romish Sodom, who unceasingly seek to poison the 
church of God, and corrupt it to the very root ; and wash our hands in 
their blood, that we may save ourselves and our descendants from eter- 
nal fire ? . . . . They object to me, that there is danger of stirring up 
a rebellion against the bishops and spiritual princes : but how if the 
Word of God be neglected, and the whole people of God be destroyed ? 
Is it right and just that all these souls should perish and die eternally, to 
keep up the empty temporal pomp of these vain shows ? .... But if 
they will not hear the Word of God, but rage and rant, what can more 
justly befall them than extermination through rebellion ? And we should 
but laugh at it, even if it were to happen, as divine wisdom saith 
(Prov. i. 26). All those who lend their help, and make use of their lives, 
property, and reputation, in overturning the bishoprics and the govern- 
ment of the bishops, are beloved children of God, and true Christians, 
that keep God's commandments, and fight against the tactics of the 
devil." 

Who will deny the impetuous and intolerant spirit which speaks in 
these words ; that spirit which the Saviour of the world rebuked so- 
lemnly on one occasion with these words : " Put up thy sword into the 



130 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PKOGRESS 

sheath ?" But who will dare condemn the man, carried away by the 
whirlwind of this extraordinary strife, for rash and violent speech ? From 
a secm-e haven we judge him who, in the midst of life and death, fought 
upon the high seas ; who believed what he held most sacred to be per- 
secuted and threatened by Pharisee and Sadducee, by hypocrites on 
whom he would in angry moments have called down, with the zeal of 
Elias, the just punishment of Heaven. Let us, therefore, neither palliate 
nor condemn, but acknowledge the often-disguised or denied fact, that 
such moments and such temptations occurred in Luther's life. 

Things had now reached their climax : the pope condemned the 
German doctor as a heretic, demanded that he should be given up to 
Rome, and threatened every one with the interdict who protected or 
harboured him. The doctor, on the other side, declared the pope to be 
Antichrist, and encouraged the powers of the state and the people to 
drive the Romish faction from Germany, and if possible to make an end 
of papacy. "Oh, would to God," he writes to Spalatin, "that the 
Emperor Charles might prove himself a man, and, for Christ's sake, 
attack these devils!" 

To give to this rupture with Rome a symbolical expression, and to 
meet the burning of his own writings by a similar measure, Luther pro- 
ceeded (Dec. 10, 1520) to the public burning of the bull and the papal 
canon. 

In a separate tract (" Why the Books of the Pope and his Disciples 
have been burnt by Doctor Luther") he justifies this proceeding in a 
tone of most courageous confidence, conscious of the impossibility of 
retreat: "I, Martin Luther, styled doctor of the holy Scriptures, an 
Augustin monk of Wittenberg, hereby make known to all men, that the 
writings of the pope and of some of his disciples have been burnt by 
my advice, will, and assistance." 

To pacify and encourage some timid minds, who had been forbidden 
by their confessors to read Luther's works, he wrote at that time the 
" Instructions to those about to confess ;" in w 7 hich, opposed to eccle- 
siastical ordinances, he maintains the most daring deductions from spi- 
ritual Christianity: "If man do not absolve, then God will absolve; 
therefore, if thy confessor do not choose to absolve thee, be nevertheless 
cheerful and confident of absolution. But if the priest refuse the sacra- 
ment, thou must again humbly pray for it; for we must ever act with 
humility towards the devil and his works, yet keep a defiant faith. And 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 131 

if that be of no use, then (jive up the saa anient, altar, priest, church: for 
the Word of God is higher than all things, the soul cannot do without it ; 
but it may do without the sacrament ; then will /he true Bishop himself 
feed thee spiritually with that same sacrament. . . . Therefore, beware of 
letting any thing upon earth, or, if it were possible, angels from heaven, 
have so much power as to force thee against thy conscience away from 
the doctrine which thou recognisest and es>teemest as divine." Here 
again we have an expression of incalculable importance, in which the 
spiritual and individual religion of the heart and the external priest-reli- 
gion of forms and ordinances are placed in direct opposition. 

It was as yet doubtful what part the emperor and the empire, the 
highest dignitaries of the German nation, would take on the occasion of 
Luther's rupture with Rome : whether they would act with or against 
Home ; whether they would content themselves with executing the sen- 
tence of the pope, or examine the matter for themselves. The emperor 
was induced by Luther's protector, the Elector Frederick the Wise, to 
adopt the latter proceeding ; and when, influenced by papal negotiations, 
he attempted, contrary to the opinion of the Diet at Worms, to con- 
demn the accused unheard, he was not allowed to do so, but was 
compelled (March 6, 1521) to give his consent to the citation of the 
German monk before the diet, for the purpose of defending his writings. 

When Luther first heard of the possibility of a citation to Worms, 
he wrote to Spalatin (December 2i, 15£0) : " If I should be called upon, 
I will be carried there sick, if I may not go in health ; for it cannot be 
doubted that I am called by God, if the emperor summon me. If they 
mean to act with violence in this matter, I will commend it to Gcd ; He 
liveth and reigneth still who preserved the three men in the fiery fur- 
nace. But if He will not sustain me, my head is but a poor thing as 
compared with Christ, who was put to death with the greatest ignominy. 
For in this we must not weigh the weal or woe of any one, but rather 
take heed not to desert the Gospel w r hich we have received, nor suffer it 
to become a scoff and scorn to the godless, nor be afraid of shedding our 

blood for it Yet would I rather perish alone by the hands of the 

Romanists than have the emperor involved in this affair But if 

it is to be so, that I am to be delivered over, not only to the high priest, 
but to the Gentiles also, then God's will be done. Expect of me 
every thing but that I shall fly or recant ; for I can do neither without 
danger to the cause of religion and to the salvation of many." 



132 A SKETCH OE THE KISE AND PEOGEESS 



To his elector he declared (January 25, 1521): " 1 am prepared, in 
humble obedience, as soon as a safe- conduct be granted me, to appear 
on the coming sitting of the diet, before judges as learned as they are 
pious and above suspicion; and with the help of the Almighty, so to 
defend myself that all shall learn I have acted hitherto without any 
thoughtless, arbitrary, or malicious motive, but according to my- con- 
science, oath, and duty, as a poor teacher of the Scriptures, to the glory 
of God, for the advantage of the ivhole German people, for the extirpa- 
tion of dangerous abuses and superstitions, and for the liberation of Chris- 
tendom from this most unchristian and tyrannical degradation and blas- 
phemy. " We perceive that when about to appear before the highest 
tribunal of his country, he was fully conscious that the motives which 
had guided him for years were : to satisfy, his conscience in accordance 
with the Scriptures, to liberate Christianity from an unworthy spiritual 
bondage, and to promote the welfare of his country. 

At length (March 26th) the imperial herald, Caspar Sturm, appeared 
to escort him ; in the beginning of April he commenced his journey to 
Worms, where he arrived on the 16th of the same month. On passing 
through Naumburg, the portrait of a hero spiritually allied to him, — the 
Dominican Savonarola, the Italian who had borne witness with his bleed 
against the degraded papacy, — was presented to him as an encouragement 
upon his thorny path. All warnings against, and intimations of, the dan- 
ger he was going to meet, he repelled with unshaken firmness: "And if 
they were to make a fire as high as heaven from Wittenberg to Worms, 
yet will I appear in the name of the Lord, place my foot upon the 
mouth of Behemoth, profess Christ, and trust in him." " Christ liveth," 
he writes to Spalatin, April 14th ; " and we shall get to Worms in despite 
of all the gates of hell and the princes of the air !" 

At his first examination (April 17th) he demanded and obtained one 
day for consideration ; though only one hour after this he wrote to Cus- 
pinian, " I shall not recant, so Christ be gracious unto me." Was the 
asking this delay a mere form ; or did the importance of the day and the 
assembly weigh so heavily upon his soul, that he wanted time once more 
to examine himself and his cause before he gave his decisive answer ? 
The hour so weighty in its consequence arrived on the evening of Thurs- 
day, April 18, 1521. He was to answer the twofold question: Whether 
he recognised as his own the writings that had appeared under his name, 
and whether he would recant them? The first he answered with 'yes,' 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 133 

the other with * no,' giving his reasons in detail. He met the request 
" that he would give a short answer without any arguments," with the 
celebrated words, in which he concentrates his entire history and posi- 
tion, his whole mind and its imperishable significance : 

ft Unless I be vanquished by evidence from the holy Scriptures, or by 
clear and distinct arguments, I am so bound up and imprisoned in my con- 
science and the Word of God, that I can and may not recant; because it is 
neither safe nor well-advised to act in any way against conscience. Here 
I stand; I cannot do otherwise. God help me /" 

We scarcely overrate the importance of that great day when we 
assert, that then only came into being true German Protestantism., the im- 
measurable consequences of which were to shake and reform the world. 
It was the solemn appearance of a new moral power in the world's his- 
tory, rooted in the depth of religious conviction, and closely connected 
with irresistible political and intellectual instincts and wants. The re- 
ligious dignity of spiritual individuality, the sanctity of conscience, the 
inviolability of its convictions, celebrated in that great hour their de- 
cisive victory. Solemnly before all the world was the doctrine then 
made known, that no human power or authority ought to affect the true 
inheritance of the soul ; that every higher conviction, every conception 
and appropriation of divine matters and of eternal truth, could only 
spring from the sacred soil of liberty, from the depth of moral individu- 
ality; — a doctrine which, it is true, involved a very sea of dangers, but 
to which we assuredly owe the highest and most sublime degree of de- 
velopment of which mankind is susceptible in its earthly phases. " In 
worldly matters we are bound to believe and confide in each other," 
Luther wrote to the Emperor Charles, April 28th ; " but if the matter 
concern the Word of God and our eternal welfare, God doth not suffer 
us to be exposed to the danger of allowing one man to impose his own 
view upon another, or to decide for him. For He willeth that all men 
should be subject unto him ; He having alone the glory and honour 
of being truthful, nay, truth itself. .... This faith, submission, and 
humility, is indeed the true worship and adoration, which should be 
given to no creature." 

Those weighty words spoken at "Worms were based upon the prin- 
ciple, that in the last appeal there are but two sources of religious con- 
viction, of divine truth, " the evidence of the holy Scriptures, and clear 
distinct grounds ;" in other words, divine revelation in the Scriptures 

R 



134 A SKETCH OE THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

and in the human understanding; the convincing power of the divine 
spirit which breathes in the pages of the oldest and purest Christian 
documents, which still speaks daily to our hearts and understandings as 
irresistible comprehension and experience. Spoken, as it was, with per- 
fect simplicity, without any striving after systems, yet did this propo- 
sition contain the germ of spiritual struggles and consequent develop- 
ments to be achieved by centuries, and powerfully influencing every 
thinking mind even to the present time. The two points on that occa- 
sion, still peaceably placed side by side, — the evidence of the Scriptures 
and of the understanding,- — diverged afterwards into separate paths, 
and form, in their struggles and attempts at reconciliation, the principal 
facts in the history of Protestantism. Protestant faith in the Bible, and 
Protestant individual belief, the twin-children of the Reformation, sepa- 
rated and fought against each other like contending brothers, who can- 
not, after all, deny their common origin; only that in the one case the 
authority of revelation in Scripture asserted pre-eminence; in the other, 
the power of individual judgment, of daily internal and external ex- 
perience. But on some future day the two grand divisions of Protestant- 
ism shall unite again in a higher bond than on that day at Worms. 

After the public audience on the 18th of April, Luther attempted 
several private negotiations, which led, however, to no result. He left 
Worms (April 26th, in the certainty that the emperor also would con- 
demn him ; as indeed happened in the following month. The imperial 
edict issued against him (dated May 8th, although only published on 
the 26th) declared him a confirmed schismatic and open heretic, and 
demanded his being given up to the emperor ; whoever should protect 
or harbour him was threatened with imperial proscription. 

The noble sympathy and foresight of the Elector of Saxony saved 
Luther from the storm which was gathering around him ; it is well 
known that he caused him to be secretly carried to a secure asylum at 
the Wartburg (May 4, 1521). " If it were in my power," so wrote that 
gentle and faithful prince to his brother, "I would gladly help Martin 

to his right But God will assuredly not forsake the righteous 

cause." 

Luther was made acquainted with the well-meant design of the 
elector, and agreed to it ; for he wrote (at Frankfort, on his return from 
Worms, April 28) to Lucas Kranach at Wittenberg : " I allow them to 
imprison and conceal me, I myself know not where ; and although I 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 135 

would rather have suffered death through the tyrants, particularly by 
the hands of the enraged Duke George of Saxony, yet must I not 

despise the advice of good people until the time come I must 

be silent and suffer for a time. A little while, and the world seeth me 
no more ; again a little while, and ye shall see me, saith Christ. I hope 
it may be the same now. But the will of God, which is the wisest, be 
done in this matter on earth as it is in heaven." 

Many mourned over the reformer, who had so suddenly quitted 
the scene and vanished without leaving any traces behind, as over one 
secretly murdered or imprisoned. In the journal of Albrecht Diirer 
we find the affecting lamentations of one of the stanchest of patriots : 
" O God! if Luther be dead, who will then interpret the holy Gospel 
to us so plainly ! Oh, how much more might he have done in the next 
ten or twenty years ! If they have murdered him, he hath suffered for 
Christian truth, and for having attacked the unchristian papacy, which 
strives against the liberty of Christ. We pray thee, O heavenly Father, 
to grant thy Holy Spirit to another man like this one, who wrote more 
clearly than any other during the last 140 years, that he may reassemble 
thy holy Christian church from all parts ; so that we may once more 
lead a Christian life, and from our good works all unbelievers may be 
induced to join us and embrace the Christian faith." 

This is a voice from the heart of the people, which shows us with 
what hopes and expectations the more thinking portion of the nation had 
greeted Luther's appearance. The liberation, purification, and reunion 
of the Christian church were the desire of all the better-minded among 
the people ; and they deemed the powerful monk of Wittenberg especi- 
ally called to achieve this great end. 

In the mean time, he whom they thought dead was living and work- 
ing mightily in his Patmos, notwithstanding the concealment and his 
disguise as " Master George." 

While struggling with bodily ailments and mental troubles, — he was 
dissatisfied, for instance, with his own conduct at Worms, and grieved 
that he should have suppressed his spirit instead of exhibiting the 
strength of Elias before those idols, — and in addition to numerous pam- 
phlets and letters to friends, fighting his enemies and encouraging his 
friends, he began a labour which alone would have sufficed to make 
him immortal ; a labour, the consequences of which outshine and outlive 
all others, — the translation of the Bible, In giving to his nation the ori- 



136 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

ginal documents on which Christianity is founded in their own tongue, 
he gained over to his great cause in all time the millions, who will never 
again consent to be deprived of the right to study the spirit of Chris- 
tianity at its original source. Through the translation of the Bible the 
Reformation became invincible. 

Luther's struggle against Rome, so prominent in the history of the 
world, may be reduced to distinct groupings in three words, " Witten- 
berg, "Worms, Wartburg." From Wittenberg emanated the loud and 
ever-increasing protest against the degradation and enslaving of Christian 
truth, against the depravity of the visible church. At Worms the right 
to freedom of conscience was vindicated, and, we may say, solemnly 
admitted into the world by an act of courage arising from conviction. 
At the Wartburg, finally, the labour was begun which gave to the nation, 
at the same time, the most powerful weapon against spiritual slavery, 
and the most fruitful germ of religious progress and development. 

In this sense the words, Wittenberg, Worms, Wartburg, express 
the lasting and universal importance of Luther's work, and the true 
character of original German Protestantism. 






REFORMATION AND REVOLUTION. 

Luther's residence at the Wartburg is the conclusion of the first 
great period of his labour, during which his mind first conceived the 
principle of the Reformation, and he alone advocated it against the 
papacy and the temporal powers. In his seclusion he had ample op- 
portunity for looking back on the four extraordinary years of the grand 
struggle, and preparing himself for new enterprises. 

The principle of the Reformation had found in Luther the organ 
through which to impart its spirit ; but it was now to be ascertained 
whether he would stand the severe twofold test of resisting the internal 
enemies who, under the mask of religious and political consistency, 
sought to direct the movement, and to change reformation into revolu- 
tion ; and whether, after having avoided this danger, he would be able 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 137 



to cany through a comprehensive organisation, either as the foundation 
of a new church or the renovation of the old one. 



RESISTANCE TO THE RELIGIOUS REVOLUTION. 

The reform movement on religious ground might have been driven 
onward to revolution, if the connexion between historical revelation, 
the historical character of Christ, and ecclesiastical tradition and govern- 
ment, had been utterly sundered. Luther perceived the danger of such 
a breaking-away from all historical Christianity in the more and more 
manifest attempts to undermine the authority of the Scripture and of the 
sacrament. It appeared to him departure from or a lowering of the 
meaning of Scripture, when enthusiasts (the people of Zwickau and the 
Anabaptists), relying upon their "inward call" (inneres Wort), their own 
individual inspiration, placed themselves above the Scriptures, and so 
sought to gain the victory for unconditional subjectivity, for individual 
free-will in all divine matters. In the same way he deemed it a per- 
version and degradation of the sacrament to denude it of its mystic and 
objective meaning, and to look upon it only as a symbol and token, as 
the enthusiastic Anabaptists and the sober matter-of-fact Karlstadt and 
Zwingle did. In Luther's opinion, the continuance of a visible external 
church would by this means have been rendered impossible, the con- 
nexion with the divine Head of the church interrupted, future Chris- 
tianity divided into small sects, and the masses would have fallen back 
partly into heathenism, partly into popery. 

To prevent such lamentable results, he asserted with increasing 
energy the fundamental principle, that the true church is to be known 
by the Word and the sacrament, that divine revelation speaks to us most 
emphatically through the Scriptures. His struggle against the fanatics 
and sacramentalists (Schwarmgeister und Sacramentirer) — so he called his 
opponents in the ranks of the Protestants — does now, therefore, assume 
a prominent position by the side of his earlier warfare against Rome. 

It brought him back to Wittenberg, where, during his absence, these 
fanatical and revolutionary ideas had gained ground. They had been 
suppressed at Zwickau, but made a proselyte of Karlstadt, and even im- 
posed upon Melanchthon. It was, indeed, an eruption of that volcanic 
fire, which, hidden in quiet times below the surface, breaks forth in 



138 A SKETCH OP THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

decisive epochs and crises with often destructive force, as the beginning 
of a semi-spiritual semi- temporal revolution, having its origin in the po- 
pular imagination. The longing for an unattainable happiness, for some 
Utopia on earth, — that perpetual longing of the human heart, so easily 
fanned into flame in the breasts of the lower classes, the poor and 
wretched, — had found a bold expression, a decided sanction, in an en- 
thusiastic brotherhood at Zwickau. Luther's proposed reforms were 
deemed here partial and insufficient. As the recipients of inward and 
direct divine revelations, they believed themselves to have a prophetic 
call for the social and religious reorganisation of the world, which, as 
the promised kingdom of God, was to begin by the destruction of the 
ungodly, and the gathering together of the saints or children of God. 
The whole existing order of church and state was to be destroyed to 
the very foundation, to make room for a state of perfect blessedness 
and purity (the millennium), to be introduced solely by these prophets 
themselves, who had been called by God to become his lawgivers and 
high-priests. This is the fundamental idea upon which the fanatics at 
Zwickau attempted to build (1521) ; the same course was pursued 
(1525) at Muhlhausen, and (1534) at Minister. Similar seductive pic- 
tures of the imagination, painted with the glowing colours of enthusiasm 
and desire, were previously conceived by the secrets sects of the middle 
ages. They have all the same origin, and appear at periods favour- 
able to their nature, although under different names, even in our own 
times. 

At Zwickau several cloth-weavers, such as Nicholas Storch, and a 
young man educated at Wittenberg, Marcus Stiibner, took the lead in 
these movements ; and the preacher Thomas Miinzer was doubtless, in 
a spiritual sense at least, in connexion with them ; in knowledge he was 
superior to them all. They were banished from Zwickau (at the end 
of 1521), ere they had obtained sufficient influence to establish a "reign 
of terror," and went, some to Bohemia (Miinzer) ; some to Wittenberg, 
as Stiibner, Storch, and others. 

Luther was made acquainted with these circumstances while yet at 
the Wartburg, and hastened to admonish his friends at Wittenberg not 
to decide too quickly in this affair, but soberly to try " these spirits," 
whether the pretended prophets could give proofs of their divine call, 
and whether they had passed through the true " spiritual conflict, the 
second birth, death and hell:" if not, they could not have the sign of 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 139 

the Son of man, the touchstone which alone could prove the Christian, 
and were not to be believed. 

But when Karlstadt was led away by these fanatics to take part in 
their iconoclastic mischief, in the intentional, reckless, and coarse dis- 
regard of all forms ; when the community at Wittenberg was in danger 
of being dispersed through license and insubordination, — Luther could 
no longer remain in his retreat. He felt that the cause of the Reforma- 
tion was threatened with greater danger from the blind fanatical pro- 
ceedings of those who had hitherto been his adherents than from his 
open opponents; he left his asylum, that he might meet the danger 
before it became irremediable. 

Outlawed by the emperor, excommunicated by the pope, he departed 
from the Wartburg (May S, 1522), to oppose a former friend, and resist 
a movement which boasted of his name and spirit. He went to Witten- 
berg contrary to the advice, nay the command of his prince ; of the only 
one who had hitherto protected him, but had informed him that at Wit- 
tenberg he should not now be able to continue that protection. This 
was another of the great moments of Luther's life, in which he stands 
before us in the full strength of his faith, as the hero and leader of his 
time. On his journey from the Wartburg he wrote at Borna to the 
elector (March 5) the extraordinary letter, which may appear to some as 
a bold defiance, to others as the most heroic trust in God : " I would 
wish to condole with your serene highness, not on my account, but 
on account of the stupid business at Wittenberg, which has arisen 
among our people to the disgrace of the Gospel ; for I myself have been 
so oppressed with grief that were I not sure that we hold the true 
Gospel, I should ere this have despaired of our cause. All that hath 
been inflicted upon me hitherto is as nothing, or only as a mere 
mockery, when compared with this. If it had been possible, I would 
willingly have given my life that it should not have happened ; for that 
hath been done which we cannot answer for either to God or to the 
world ; and yet it is laid to my charge, and worse still, to the charge of 
the holy Gospel. 

" As far as I am concerned, your grace, I answer thus : Your grace 
knows — or if you do not know, I now make it known unto you — that 
I have received the Gospel, not from men, but from heaven alone, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ; I would willingly have boasted — as I 
mean to do in future — and signed myself his servant and evangelist. I 






140 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

did not offer myself for examination and judgment because I was in 
doubt, but from becoming humility, and to give an example to others. 
But as I now see that my too-great humility tends to the discredit of 
the Gospel, and that the devil will take possession of the whole ground 
if I grant him a hand's-breadth, I must, to satisfy my conscience, act 
differently. I have given way long enough to your grace in remaining 
quiet this year (from May 1521 to March 1522). For the devil knows 
very well that I have not done so from lack of courage ; he knew my 
heart when I arrived at Worms, that if I had known that as many devils 
waited for me as there are tiles upon the roofs, I should nevertheless 
have leapt among them with joy. . . . And since our Father, in his 
boundless mercy, hath given us, through the Gospel, the victory over 
all devils and death, and the full assurance that we may call him ( our 
beloved Father,' your grace may judge yourself that it would be the 
highest offence against such a Father, not to confide in him sufficiently 
to make us superior to the anger of Duke George. I can say of myself, 
that if this matter stood at Leipzic as it stands at Wittenberg, I should 
nevertheless ride thither, even if it rained for nine days nothing but 
Duke Georges, and each one were nine times more enraged than this 
one is. He takes my Lord Jesus to be a man of straw ; this my Master 
and I may well bear for a time. ... I have prayed and wept for him 
more than once, that the Lord would enlighten him ; I will pray and 
weep once more, but for the last time. I could quickly throttle him 
with one word, if that would settle the matter. . . . This has been 
written in the supposition that your grace knows I come to Wittenberg 
under a much higher protection than that of the elector. . . . Neither 
do I intend to demand protection from your grace. Indeed, I hold that 
I can protect your grace much better than you can protect me. Besides, 
if I knew that your grace could and would protect me, I should not 
come. In this cause, the sword neither can nor ought to decide or 
help ; God only must decide in it, without any human care or help. 
Therefore he who hath most faith can protect most. Now as I per- 
ceive that your grace is still very weak in the faith, I cannot look upon 
your grace as the man that could protect or save me. God wills not 
either your grace's care and striving or mine. He wills it to be left to 
him. If your grace believeth, you will be safe and have peace ; if you 
do not believe, I do ; and must leave your grace, in your unbelief, to the 
torment and trouble to which those are exposed who have not faith. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 141 

Before men your grace ought to take this course. Be obedient, as 
elector, to your superiors ; give way to his imperial majesty, according 
to the laws of the empire ; and do not oppose or resist the temporal 
power, if it seek to capture or kill me : for no one is to oppose or resist 
the powers that be, except He who has appointed them ; otherwise, it 
is rebellion and against God. ... If your grace believed, you would 
see the glory of God ; but as you do not believe, you have as yet seen 
nothing." 

This letter certainly stands alone of its kind in history. It unques- 
tionably offers to an opponent many a handle for condemnation ; it con- 
tains passages (the threat, for instance, that he could kill Duke George 
with a word, and other similar phrases) which, on cool reflection, might 
be regarded as expressing temerity, and an exaggerated estimate of self. 
But only he who can place himself completely in Luther's position at 
that time, — who can thoroughly estimate the elevation of spirit, the sub- 
lime confidence which fills the soul that has, after long struggles and 
doubts, resolved to place itself and the cause it seeks to promote, uncon- 
ditionally and prepared for all consequences, under the immediate sole 
protection of God, — only he has the right to point out the unbecoming 
and repulsive features which are exhibited here, and on many other 
occasions, by the side of the divinely great qualities of the hero's mind ; 
namely, a tendency to pride and temerity, rooted in his nature, and ag- 
gravated by the events of his life, combined with a want of moderation 
in the expression of his feelings, temper, and passions. 

And how mild, attractive, and admirable he appears to us, soon after 
writing this letter, in the hostelry of the Black Bear at Jena, at the 
well-known meeting with the two Swiss students, who took him for 
Ulrich of Hutten ; or in the scene with the merchants, who, without 
knowing him, expressed the anxious wish to be allowed but once to 
confess to Luther, they having just then bought his last publication ! 
How impressively does that man speak to our hearts, who can con- 
verse with old and young, — have a jest for the one, edification for the 
other, — while standing on a volcano which may swallow him up at any 
moment ! 

What were the weapons with which he meant to oppose the storm 
that had broken out at Wittenberg ? Most decidedly the same doctrine 
to which he had borne witness at Worms against other opponents, — the 
assertion of Christian freedom of conscience. Not even in the name and 



142 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 

under the pretence of freedom, was compulsion to be practised against 
the weaker parties, whose conscience could not yet bear such freedom. 
To the blind bigotry which rejected all forms, he opposed the divine 
command of love, as a barrier for the protection of the weaker or more 
peaceable brethren, who still clung to the traditional form. " Dear 
brethren," he cried, in the first of his eight Lenten sermons, by which 
he put a stop to the prevailing disorders, " the kingdom of God, which 
is in us, consists not in speeches or words, but in deeds, in works, and 
exercises. God will have no mere listeners or repeaters, but followers, 
labourers in the faith through love. For faith without love is not suffi- 
cient ; indeed it is not faith, but only the appearance of faith : as a face 
seen in a mirror is not a real face, but only a reflection. . . . Therefore 
let us feed others with milk, as we have been fed, until they also be- 
come strong in the faith." In the second sermon on the Monday after 
Invocavit, he says : " Summa summarum ! I will preach it, I will say it, 
I will write it ; but I will not force or urge any one with violence ; for 
faith must come readily, without constraint and without violence. Take 
example by me. I have been opposed to indulgences and to popery, 
but have not used violence. I have only practised, preached, and written 
the Word of God ; I have done nothing else. This, while I slept, while 
I drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip and Amsdorf, has done so much 
that popery has become greatly weakened, and no prince or emperor 
has done it so much damage. I have done nothing ; the Word has done 
and accomplished all. If I had chosen to act violently, I might have 
caused much bloodshed in Germany; indeed, I might have begun a 
game at Worms that should have left the emperor without security. 
But what would it be ? A fool's game, and a destruction of body and 

soul How think ye the devil judges when people want to carry 

their point with violence ? He sits behind in hell, and thinks : Oh, what 
a fine game the fools are playing ! But he is vexed when we act accord- 
ing to the Word, and let that only influence us. That is almighty, that 
taketh the heart prisoner ; and when that is imprisoned, the devil's work 
must fall away of itself." " The kingdom of God," he says in his fifth 
Lenten sermon, " consists not in external things, which you may seize or 
feel, but in faith. . . . Therefore is nothing new to be introduced, unless 
the Gospel be thoroughly 'preached and known.'" 

He therefore sets forth, as the fundamental conditions of the Refor- 
mation, the two demands, liberty and order. Entire liberty of conscience, 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. US 



which need be subject to no other power than the unconquerable 
inward power of truth (the Word) ; and maintenance of good order at 
every unavoidable innovation, to be insisted on by the lawful temporal 
authorities, but never by disorderly masses. 

Luther's powers of persuasion and his great influence succeeded in 
speedily guiding the overflowing stream back to its channel. Those who 
could not be convinced, were yet (like Karlstadt) persuaded to keep 
quiet for a time, and be silent : others, the enthusiasts of Zwickau, had 
to leave the town. And quiet was restored for a time ; but it was only 
the quiet which precedes a tempest. 



The desire for radical change, checked by Luther, was, however, 
soon reanimated, and found in Miinzer and Karlstadt the leaders, who 
laboured at first separately, but at length, by uniting their efforts, suc- 
ceeded during the following years in opening a way for it. If Karlstadt 
was the first representative of the doctrinal rupture among the Protest- 
ants, which was promoted at a later period, with infinitely greater talent 
and true vocation, by Zwingle, CEcolampadus, and those who thought 
with them, — Thomas Miinzer represented most decidedly the political 
rupture, which soon announced itself boldly in the midst of the Refor- 
mation. Luther collected all his strength for the victory over both these 
opponents. Through this struggle and its consequences he became the 
founder of Luther anism, as he had become the guide and founder of Ger- 
man Protestantism in the previous struggle. 

Karlstadt had, in the beginning of the year 1524, resumed at Orla- 
miinde the career interrupted at Wittenberg in 1522. He was completely 
governed by a fanatical and subjective spiritualism; and being banished 
the country by the elector, gave the signal for the unhappy disputations 
concerning the sacrament, by an attack upon Luther's mystical interpre- 
tation of the same. Luther met him in person at Orlamiinde, but with- 
out success, and opposed him afterwards relentlessly in many polemical 
writings. 

In the letter addressed " To the Christians at Strasburg" (Dec. 15, 
1524), he declares : " If our gospel be the true gospel, of which I have 
no doubt, it must be attacked, tried, and probed from both sides : on 
the one, by external worldly disgrace and the hatred of its enemies ; on 
the other, by our own separation and dissensions. Christ must not only 



144 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

have Caiaphas among his enemies, but also Judas among his friends. 
Therefore must we be neither astonished nor frightened if dissensions 
arise among us, but boldly reflect that it must and will be so ; and pray 

to God that he may be with us, and keep us in the right path 

For I have learnt that Dr. Karlstadt hath raised a great disturbance 
among you with his fanaticism and sacrament, his images and baptism, 
as he has done elsewhere also." 

The manner in which Luther takes up and judges the position of his 
opponents is remarkable : "His case appears to me to be this: he falls 
with as great violence upon external things, as if the whole power of a 
Christian being depended upon the destruction of images, casting aside the 
sacraments, and preventing baptism; as if he meant by this smoke and 
vapour to darken the sun, the light of the gospel, and the principal 
articles of Christian faith, so that the world might no longer see, and 
forget all that hath been hitherto taught by us ! . . . . This is therefore 
a clumsy devil, that I care little for. Now it is my best advice and 
warning, that you should confine yourselves to the single question : What 
constitutes a Christian ? If any one make a proposition, begin and say : 
Dear friend, does this make a Christian ? if not, then do not regard it as 
important, nor dwell upon it seriously. But if an individual be too 
weak for this, then let him wait and see what we or others say to it. I 
have managed very well hitherto, God be thanked, with essentials ; I 
hope I may not now fail with regard to externals." 

These words, as well as the whole course of the dissension, show un- 
mistakably that the difference was as much personal as controversial. 
Luther hated and abhorred the stormy and violent passions, the immode- 
rate estimation of the value of external points, and the want of true 
liberality and humanity, which accompanied this feverish and intrinsi- 
cally meaningless revolutionary movement. A dissension of this kind 
will take place at all times and every where, when true liberality and 
deep religious feeling connect themselves with heartless and spiritually 
crude radicalism, in opposition to a common enemy. The casual and 
temporary connexion is unavoidably and speedily changed for keen op- 
position; the more keen and intense, the nearer the opinions of the parties 
previously stood to each other, as was the case between Luther and 
Karlstadt. The former was principally influenced in his opposition to 
the latter by the great doctrinal points at issue ; but the idea that the 
direction of the great reform movement^ which had hitherto been con- 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 145 



fided to him alone, should now pass into other hands, and these so clumsy 
and unskilled, no doubt greatly increased the bitterness of his feelings. 

In the letter (to the Christians at Strasburg) a passage occurs, the 
full meaning of which has been rarely estimated at its real importance — 
a passage which gives us an insight into the very depth of his character 
and his train of thought : " This much I confess : if Dr. Karlstadt or 
any one else could have convinced me five years ago that there was 
nothing but bread and wine in the sacrament, he would have rendered me 
a great service. I have undergone great temptations, and struggled and 
striven to get free of this, because I saw clearly that with this I could 
have given the severest blow to popery. But I am bound; I cannot get 
free of it ; the text is too strong, and cannot be ivrested from its sense by 
words. Indeed, if it could happen even now that any one could prove 
to me on firm grounds that simple bread and wine was present, they 
would not need to attack me with so much fury : I am, alas, but too 
much inclined to it, as far as I know my sinful nature (meinen Adam). 
But the way in which Dr. Karlstadt raves about it affects me so little, 
that my opinion becomes only stronger through it. And if I had not 
believed it before, such lame, loose fooleries, without any evidence, 
grounded only on human sense and conceit, would at once make me 
believe that his opinion must be naught." It is evident that Luther, 
in the interest of his struggle against Rome, had been strongly inclined 
to accept the symbolical meaning of the word used in the institution of 
the Lord's supper ; and even at the period above alluded to, his under- 
standing (his old Adam) would have decided for this interpretation : but 
then, as before, the impressiveness of the scriptural words restrained him ; 
they seemed to him not to admit of any other than a literal sense ; a 
symbolical interpretation appeared as an offence against the conscien- 
tious exposition of Scripture : " the text was too powerful for him." 
And yet from this controversy, whether a figurative acceptation of those 
words were admissible to the Christian or not, arose the schism in the 
profession of faith which for centuries violently separated Protestantism 
into two distinct camps. 

On this occasion Luther expressed strong doubts, also, of the politi- 
cal opinions of Karlstadt; although the latter had declared, in direct 
opposition to Miinzer's proceedings, " we will not have recourse to 
blows and spears." " Karlstadt had nearly persuaded me at Jena," 
writes Luther, " that I ought not to confound his spirit with that of 



146 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 



the rebellious murderous people of Allstedt* (Miinzer's party). But 
when I came to Orlamiinde among his Christians, I soon saw what kind 
of seed he had sown ; and I might be thankful that I was not driven out 
with stones and dirt. As it was, many gave me these and similar bene- 
dictions : ' Go, in the name of a thousand !' ' May you break your 

neck before you get out of the town !' " 

At the conclusion of the letter he once more rises grandly above all 
the personalities which had been mixed up with the struggle : " Let 
every one look only for the straight path ; what law, gospel, faith, the 
kingdom of Christ, Christian freedom, love, patience, human law, &c. 
are ; that is enough for us to learn for all time. I beg of your Gospellers 
to direct you away from Luther or Karlstad t, but ever towards Christ : 
not as Karlstadt does, solely pointing out the works of Christ as an ex- 
ample (which is the least portion of Christ, and in which he resembles 
other saints) ; but how he is a gift of God, or, as St. Paul says, He is 
made unto us of God the power, wisdom, righteousness, redemption, 
and sanctification of God: which meaning these prophets have never felt, 
tasted, or learned; and cackle, therefore, with their living voice from 
heaven, many bombastic words (schwulstige Worte) which they them- 
selves have never understood, and by which they only confound tender 
consciences." 

That which he had hastily and briefly stated in his " Letter to the 
Christians at Strasburg," he further explains in the " Treatise against 
the Heavenly Prophets" (Jan. 1525), so impressively, that this was plainly 
intended to be the decisive and annihilating blow against the whole 
movement : " Dr. Andreas Karlstadt," it is said in the beginning of this 
pamphlet, " has separated himself from us, and has become our worst 
foe. Christ did not mean to inspire terror, but give us his mind and cour- 
age, that we may not err and tremble before this Satan, who pretends 
that he will justify the sacrament, hut who has very different intentions, 
namely, to corrupt the whole doctrine of the Gospel by the cunning handling 

of the Scriptures These ambitious prophets do nothing but 

destroy images, break down churches, do away with the sacraments, and 
seek for a peculiar chosen mortification of the flesh. Neither have they 
hitherto acted according to the doctrine of faith, nor taught how to encou- 
rage conscience, which is nevertheless the first and most important part of 
the Christian doctrine. And if they had achieved all ; if no image ex- 
* A small town in Thuringia, where Munzer lived as preacher. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 147 

isted, no church were standing, no one believed any longer that the flesh 
and blood of Christ are in the sacrament; and if all went about in the 
grey coats of the peasant (such as Karlstadt wore for some time, to do 
away with all distinction of rank), — what would be gained by it ? Would 
they have become Christians by it ? Where would faith and love be ? 

were they to come only afterwards ? Fame and honour, and a 

fresh monastic glory, might be gained by it ; but conscience will not be the 
better for it; nor do such false spirits care for this. . . . Therefore must 
we have something higher to liberate and to comfort conscience ; and this 
is the Holy Ghost, which cannot be obtained by the destruction of images 
or any other work, but solely through faith and the Gospel." 

Luther's boldest and most authoritative assertion against the position 
Karlstadt and those connected with him had taken up, was contained in 
the cutting words, that their opinions were essentially a falling back from 
Christianity to Judaism, from the Gospel to the books of Moses : "Well 
then, we will come to the true point, and say that these prophets of 
Moses are to leave us unconnected with Moses ; we will neither hear nor 
see Moses. How like ye this, my dear banded spirits (JRottengeister) ? 
We say further, that all such Mosaic teachers deny the Gospel, banish 
Christ, and abolish the whole New Testament. I speak now as a Chris- 
tian and for Christians. For Moses has been given to the Jewish people 
only, and does not concern us heathens and Christians; we have our Gos- 
pel and the New Testament. Thanks are due to the pious Paul, with 
Isaiah, for having so long before saved us from these confederate spirits; 
else we might sit on the Sabbath-day and lean our head on our hand, 
and wail for the voice from heaven, as they pretend to do. Indeed, if 
Karlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have 
to give way, and the Sabbath — that is to say, Saturday — must be kqpt 
holy; he would truly make us Jews in all things, and we should come 
to be circumcised : for that is true, and cannot be denied, that he who 
deems it necessary to keep one law of Moses, and keeps it as the law 
of Moses, must deem all necessary, and keep them all. It is not only 
the law of Moses that says, ' thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not 
steal,' &c, but the natural law that is written in every one's heart, as 

Paul teacheth Else, if it were not written in every one's heart, 

the law would have to be taught and preached long enough ere con- 
science adopted it. Now if the law of Moses and the law of nature be 
one, that law will remain, and cannot be abolished externally, except 



148 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

through faith spiritually ; therefore is image -worship, the observance 
of the Sabbath, and all that Moses hath added to the law of nature, not 
binding upon us. Therefore let Moses be ' the Saxon mirror'* for the 
Jews, and not perplex us heathens (i. e. heathen Christians) with it. 
"Why do we teach and keep the ten commandments ? Because the laws 
of nature are no where so subtly and compactly instituted as in Moses. 
And I could wish to take some other temporal matters from Moses; 
such as, the law of separation (of married persons), the year of jubilee, 
the year of release, tithes, and other things ; by which laws the world 
would be better ruled than now with the law of interest, of buying and 
selling, and giving in marriage :— in the same manner as one land takes 
example by the laws of another, as the Romans took the twelve tables 

from the Greeks Neither is it necessary to keep the Sabbath or 

Sunday on account of the law of Moses, but because nature teaches 
that a day of rest is necessary to refresh man and beast, which natural 
reason Moses gives for his Sabbath. If it is to be kept for rest only, 
it is clear that he who needs not rest may break the Sabbath, and rest 
another day instead, as nature dictates. The Sabbath is also to be kept 
for preaching and hearing the word of God." 

The above extract deserves to be quoted in extenso, because it is not 
only important as repudiating the indistinct and over-strained Jewish 
ideas of Luther's opponents, but because it gives at the same time a 
striking proof of the freedom from prejudice, and of the elevation of 
Christian views which he attains wherever overpowering prejudice or 
the bitterness of debate do not blind him. 

In this .pamphlet also he attributes great importance to the social and 
political dangers arising from Karlstadt's opinions, whose violent proceed- 
ings he calls upon the magistrates to check : " I intend, so God will, to 
flatter no prince ; but still less will I suffer that the banding together and 
disobedience of the people should bring about contempt of constituted 
authorities. And it is my humble admonition and prayer to all princes, 
sovereigns, and authorities, seriously to insist that those preachers who 
do not teach quietly, but seduce the people and destroy images and 

* Sachsenspiegel : a collection of laws made during the middle ages, and established in 
the greatest part of northern and central Germany; incorporated with others were portions 
of the Roman and canonical law. This collection of laws is highly esteemed in our .day, and 
a new edition of it appeared in Berlin as late as 1835. The present laws of Saxony are 
founded upon it. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 149 

churches behind the backs of the authorities, should at once be banished 
the country, and be dealt with in such a manner as to compel them to 
desist. I do not by this means want to impede the preaching of the 
Word of God, but put a stop to the mischievous doings of the impious 
enthusiasts and riotous bands, which it behoves the magistrates to do. . . 
If the masses are to have the right and the power to execute one law of 
God in this way, it will be necessary to permit them afterwards to exe- 
cute all the laws ; they must, in that case (instead of the proper autho- 
rities), kill the murderers, punish the adulterers and thieves, — whoever 
can manage it first. After that it will go further, and they will have to 

kill all ungodly persons ; for so Moses commands (Deut. vii.) 

Those bands of murderers, because they apply the law of Moses to the 
people (rabble), are impelled to rebellion, to murder, and to kill, as to 
a work which God hath commanded. Take the town-spirit (Thomas 

Miinzer) as an example When he had got so far intimate with 

the devil (den Teufel zu Gevattern gebeten hatte) that the rabble could 
destroy the images without proper authority, he was compelled also to go 
further, and order the people to commit murder. . . Dear sirs, the devil 
careth not for the destruction of images ; but he wants to use it as an 
opening, that he may shed blood and commit murder in the world. 

" I ask no longer what Dr. Karlstadt says or does, — I speak of the 
spirit which impels his followers : it is not a good one, and means murder 

and rebellion, however he may bow and scrape For if Karlstadt 

were to bring a great mob about him, as he intended when he thought of 
arming on the Saale, and the Scriptures are read in German, what would 
he do if Master Omnes (the mob) were to place the command Ho kill the 
wicked' before him ? how would he guaid against that ? If he had never 
intended to agree to this, he would yet have to consent, for they would 
resist him and cry : Here stands the Word of God : we must carry it out ! 
It is not well to play with Master Omnes ; therefore hath God instituted 
authority, that the ivorld may be well ordered. . . . Karlstadt drags the 
* heavenly prophets' about with him, which have originated the Allstedt 
(Munzer's) spirit : of these he learns ; with these he abides. They 
sneak about the country, and creep together along the banks of the 

Saale, where they intend to make their nest They cast their 

poison about in secret, and infuse it into Dr. Karlstadt, that he may 

spread it abroad with tongue and pen These prophets teach that 

they are to reform Christianity, and establish a new one in the following 

T 



150 



A SKETCH OE THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



manner : they are to strangle all princes and all the wicked, that they 
may become masters, and live among none but saints upon earth. This 
I and many others have heard from themselves ; Karlstadt knows this 
also, and yet shuns them not; and I am to believe that he doth not seek 
murder and rebellion ? .... As they are bent upon strangling and 
murder, they can only proceed from the devil himself, even though- they 
knew all wisdom and the Scriptures. Is it not vexatious that the people 
should have become here and there disquieted and proud, before the 
princes were aware of it ? And if they hear a preacher who bids them 
be peaceable and obedient to authority, they call him at once a calum- 
niator and the hypocritical servant of princes, and point at him with 
their fingers. But if he say, Kill, kill ! give way to no one ; ye are the 
real people, &c, — they call him the true evangelical preacher." 

At the conclusion of this work he once more rests his warnings 
against Karlstadt and his prophet on the two counts : that they go about 
and teach without a call ; and that they avoid and fly from the principal 
point in the Christian doctrine, how we may rid ourselves of our sins, have 
a quiet conscience, and acquire a peaceable cheerful heart in God, in 
which all true power lies. 

It is a proof of Luther's sound views and tact, that he recognised in the 
Karlstadt movement, in spite of the apparently peaceable theory of this 
unstable, ambitious, narrow-minded, and short-sighted man, the destruc- 
tive revolutionary element, which threatened to evoke a rude democracy 
both in faith and morals, in doctrine and life. Nevertheless, the con- 
flict with Karlstadt proved a serious injury to his cause, a painful expen- 
diture of mental energy which was lost for other more beneficial objects, 
which had the most important consequences on the organised develop- 
ment of Protestantism, and from which Germany has suffered and is still 
suffering. The same may be said, in a still higher degree, of the continu- 
ation of the controversy respecting the sacrament, which Karlstadt had 
originated, and which, on his being set aside, was resumed and carried 
on by the reformers of Switzerland and of the south of Germany. 



RESISTANCE TO THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REVOLUTION. 

The lever, however, had long been applied, which, by the help of the 
religious ideas represented by Luther, was to bring about a complete 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



151 



political and social revolution. We have already, at the beginning of 
this section, mentioned Thomas Munzer, as the boldest and most noto- 
rious leader of this movement, who, with infinitely greater courage and 
fanaticism than Karlstadt, endeavoured to realise the idea of an entire 
overthrow of the existing order in church and state, and in society at 
large. 

While threatened by the storm impending from this quarter, Luther 
maintained the principle he had previously defended against Karlstadt : 
The Word must do all. It was his great design to overthrow the papacy, 
reform the church, and save Germany by conviction alone, by the still 
small voice of truth. He repudiated violence from the first, and most 
decidedly when it assumed the appearance of revolt and recourse to arms. 
On this account he had already separated from Ulrich von Hutten, who 
strove to instigate his friend Sickingen to an unseasonable and immature 
rising, and to excite the people to insurrection ; it was therefore to be 
expected that he should oppose much more decisively a man like 
Munzer, who strove to kindle the fiercest flames of political and religious 
fanaticism. In the opposition to him, a struggle originated for the ex- 
istence or non-existence of the Reformation, for civilisation or barbarism, 
for spiritual Christianity or pharisaical Judaism, for freedom or anarchy, 
for the gentle blessings of religion, or the sanguinary horrors of a fana- 
tical terrorism. 

Before the inevitable results of this man's proceedings had become 
apparent, Luther had raised a warning voice in his " Letter to the Princes 
of Saxony against the Rebellious Spirit," 1524 {Brief an die Furster 
von Sachsen vom aufriihrerischem Geist), against the agitator, who was at 
that time actively propagating his opinions at Allstedt, in the electorate 
of Saxony. " Satan being driven out from among us, — having wandered 
a year, or it may be three, in the wilderness, — hath at last made a nest 
for himself at Allstedt, and thinks to take advantage of the peace and 

protection we enjoy to fight against us Now I rejoice in this, 

that our people do not begin similar practices ; and they (i. e. Miinzer and 
his followers) even boast that they do not belong to us, have learnt and 
received nothing from us, but are from heaven, and hear God himself 
speak to them as to the angels ; and it appears (to them) but a poor thing 
that we at Wittenberg preach faith, love, and the cross of Christ. They 
say : Thou must hear God's voice thyself, feel and suffer his work in thee. 
The Scripture is naught to them, the Bible indeed a mere Babel (J a 



152 



A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PKOGKESS 



Bibel, Bnbel, Babel). . . . I have written this letter solely because I heard 
that this spirit does not intend to stop at words, but to use his fists, and re- 
sist the powers that be with violence. I thought it would come to this, 
that they intended to be lords of this world ; although Christ denied this 
before Pilate, and said that his kingdom was not of this world. It be- 
hoves me, therefore, humbly to implore and caution your graces to look 
seriously to this matter, as in duty bound ; to guard against this mischief 
by your lawful authority, and check this outbreak in the bud. For your 
graces are well aware that power and temporal dominion have been 
given and intrusted to you by God for the purpose of maintaining peace 

and punishing evil-doers God will require you to answer for 

any negligence in using the sword he hath committed to you If 

he would creep out of his hole and not shun the light, but stand boldly 
before his enemies and opponents, avow himself and make answer, we 
should then have some fruit wherewith to test this spirit. But this 
spirit at Allstedt avoids such a course, as the devil dreads the cross. . . . 
But what is this bold defiant spirit, that keeps himself so close, and will 
only stand before those he does not fear? What kind of spirit is this, 
who is afraid of two or three, and dare not show himself to those he doth 
fear? He smells a rat (er riecht den Braten). He hath had a rap once 
or twice in my presence, in my monastery at Wittenberg ; therefore he 
slinks away, and will appear only before his own people^ who say ( yes' 

to all his fine speeches I cannot boast of or presume upon such 

fine speeches ; I am a poor miserable man, and have not managed my 
matters so cleverly, but have set about them with fear and trembling. . 
How humbly did I first assail the pope ! how I wept and strove ! . . . 
Nevertheless, I have in my humble spirit done that which this devour- 
ing lion hath not yet attempted I have stood at Leipsic before 

the most formidable assembly; at Augsburg, before my fiercest foes; at 
Worms, before the emperor and all the empire. I have been obliged to 
contend in corners with one, two, or three ; with whomsoever, where, 
and howsoever they pleased; — my poor timid spirit stood exposed like a 
fiower of the field. 

" If necessary, I can make known what took place between me and 
this spirit in my own cell, that all the world may be able to judge that 
he is assuredly a lying devil. If they wish to show what spirit they are 
of, let them do it as it is fit, and let themselves be tried first, either by 
us or by the papists. For they esteem us — I thank God for it ! — worse 



OF THE REFORMATION" IN GERMANY. 153 

foes than the papists, although they profit by our victory, for 

which they have not striven nor risked their blood ; but I have gained it 

at the peril of my life — nor have I hitherto flinched But I know 

that we who have the Gospel — poor sinners as we are — possess the true 
spirit, all the first-fruits of the spirit, although we have not yet the 
fulness thereof. We know, indeed, what faith, love, and the cross is ; 
and there is no higher knowledge on earth than faith and love. By this 
we can know and judge which doctrine is true or false, conformable to 
the faith or not. So can we know and judge this lying spirit; because 
he intends to do away with the Scripture and the spoken word of God, 
and abolish the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper; and would 
lead us to try God by our own will and works, and appoint time, place, 
and limit for his work in us. 

" To sum up all, let not your graces interfere with freedom of speech ; 
do not fear to let them preach to their heart's content, how and against 
whom they please. Sects there must be ; and God's Word must take the 
field and conquer. If this is a true spirit, it will not fear us, and will 
keep its ground ; but if ours is the true spirit, it will not fear them : let 
the spirits confront each other and contend. If in the meantime a few be 
seduced, well and good ; it is the course of war : on the battle-field some 
must fall and some be wounded ; the best fighter wins the day. But if 
they want to go further than this ivar of words, if they want to use the fist, 
your graces must interfere and banish them the country, and say : Keep 
your fists to yourselves, for that is our office; or else get ye hence! For we 
who are intrusted with God's Word should not fight with the fist ; ours 
is a spiritual strife, to win hearts and souls from the devil. To preach 
and suffer is our office ; thus Christ and the apostles won souls with the 
Word of God. For they are not Christian who use their fists as well as 
the Word, and who are not rather prepared to endure all things." 

In order to make the antagonism between Luther and Miinzer more 
apparent, we will place the words of the revolutionist beside those of 
the reformer : reformation and revolution could not be represented in 
more startling contrast. With this view, we select a few of the strongest 
passages from M'unzer's writings ; for instance, his exhortation to an 
outbreak of the most violent and fanatic character, at once Judaicai and 
communistic (1524): 

" Behold, our lords and princes are the dregs of usurers, thieves, 
and robbers ; i they join house to house, lay field to field, till there be 



154 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGBESS 

no place left, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth' 
(Tsaiah v.). With all that, they proclaim among the poor God's com- 
mandment, saying, ( God hath commanded: Thou sshalt not steal ;' but 
they do not take it to themselves. And they so afflict all men, the poor 
husbandman and mechanic, and all that live. ' They eat the flesh of my 
people, and flay their skin from off them ; they break their bones, and chop 
them in pieces as for the pot, and their flesh as for the cauldron' (Micah 
iii.); yet they will hang up the people if they take the least thing. To 
all this, ' Amen,' says Doctor Liar. It is the fault of the masters if the 
poor become their foes ; they will not do away with the cause of the in- 
surrection, and how can it turn out well in the long-run? If I say as 
much, I shall be accounted a rebel. So be it. 

" Christ hath commanded this solemnly, saying, ' Bring hither those 
mine enemies, and slay them before me.' Wherefore ? Wherefore, 
indeed ! because they corrupted Christ's government, and wanted to 
defend their own knavery under the appearance of Christian faith, and 
scandalise the whole world with their cloak of hypocrisy. Do not talk 
nonsense to us — that the power of God will suffice without the help of 
your sword ; if so, it may rust in the scabbard. Would to God that 
every learned man, be he who he may, would tell you the same ! 
Christ hath said this plainly in Matt, vii.: 'Every tree that bringeth 
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.' 

" If they wish to be spiritual, and yet will take no account of the 
knowledge of God (Peter iii.), they must be put away (1 Cor. v.) I 
pray for them with pious Daniel, if they be not opposed to the reve- 
lation of God; but if they do oppose it, let them be slain without mercy, 
as Hezekiah, Josiah, Cyrus, Elijah (1 Kings xviii.) destroyed the priests 
of Baal; otherwise the Christian church will not return to its original 
state. The weeds must be rooted out of the vineyard of the Lord in the 
season of the harvest. 

" God hath said (Deuteronomy vii.), Thou shalt not show mercy on 
idolaters ; destroy their altars, break down their images and burn them, 
that mine anger may not be kindled against you. But if it be said that 
the apostles have not destroyed the idols of the heathen, I answer, that 
St. Peter was a fearful man, and dissembled with the Gentiles. (Gal. ii.) 
We must extirpate the wicked and idle Christians, if the princes will 
not do it." 

And he writes to the miners at Mansfeld (1525): "All Germany, 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 155 

France, and Italy are awake. The Lord will give chase, and the 
wicked must flee. Let us on them ! let us on them ! It is the time 
for the wicked to tremble like dogs. Stir up the brethren, that they 
may obtain peace, and recover their stolen testimony. This is highly 
necessary, necessary beyond measure. On them! on them! — have 
no mercy, though Esau use kind words (Genesis xxxiii.). Give no 
heed to the misery of the ungodly : they will entreat you so kindly ; 
they will weep and wail like children ; have no mercy, as God hath 
commanded through Muses (Deut. vii.), and he hath revealed the same to 
us. Let nut the blood grow cold upon your swords. Smite Nimrod, bang, 
bang (pinka pank) upon the anvil; raze his tower to the ground. As 
long as they live, you cannot be rid of the fear of man. We cannot 
speak to you of God so long as they rule over you. On them! on them! 
on them! as long as it is day, God goeth before you: follow ! You will 
find this history written in Matthew xxiv. Therefore be not alarmed ; 
God is with you, as it is written (£ Chron. ii.), Thus saith God, Fear 
not ye, be not dismayed at this multitude ; it is not your battle, but 
the Lord's.' " 

In the same manner he wrote from Frankenhausen to Count Al- 
brecht of Mansfeld : 

" Written for the conversion of brother Albrecht of Mansfeld. 

" * Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth evil.' 
(Rom. ii.) 

" I grieve that thou shouldst have misused Paul's epistle in such 
evil manner : thou thinkest to support the wicked government thereby 
to the uttermost, as the pope hath made hangmen (Stockmeister) of 
Peter and Paul. Thinkest thou that the Lord God, in his wrath, could 
not rouse up his people, void of understanding, to depose the tyrants ? 
(Hos. xiii. 8.) 

" Hath not the mother of Christ spoken of thee, and those like thee, 
through the Holy Ghost in prophecy ? (Luke i.) ' He hath put down 
the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree,' whom 
thou despisest. Hast thou found in thy Luther ish porridge, and thy Wit- 
tenberg broth, what Ezekiel (ch. xxxvii.) prophesies? Neither couldst 
thou taste in thy Martin's peasant-dirt what the same prophet saith 
(ch. xxxix.), that God bids all the birds in the air devour the flesh of 
princes, and that the senseless beasts of the field shall drink the blood 
of the great multitude, as is described in Rev. xviii. 19 ? Knowest thou 



156 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

not that God careth more for his people than for you tyrants ? Thou 
wilt be a heathen under the name of Christian and the cloak of Paul. 
But they will meet thee in thy way; so look out! If thou be ready to 
acknowledge (Dan. ix.) that the Lord hath given power to all Israel, 
and wilt appear before us and change thy faith, we will gladly agree 
to this, and receive thee as a brother; but if not, we shall take no ac- 
count of thy lame and stale nonsense, but fight against thee as against the 
arch-enemy of Christendom. Give heed to this, and act accordingly. 
" Given at Frankenhausen, Friday after Jubilate, anno 1525. 

Thomas Munzer, 

With the sword of Gideon." 

Thus wrote the fanatic who had no better name for Luther than 
" the carnal, effeminate flesh at Wittenberg," " the prudish Babylonian 
woman," " arch-heathen," " Doctor Liar," " the Wittenberg pope," 
"hypocritical flatterer of princes," &c. 

- Luther had dreaded for several years that matters might come to 
this extremity. Even in his i( Admonition to all Christians to beware of 
Insurrection and Rebellion" (\522), he says, " that it appeared as if the 
discovery of papal deceit and tyranny would lead to an insurrection, 
during which priests, monks, bishops, with the whole clerical order, 
would run the risk of being turned out or killed ; for the common 
people were determined not to bear any longer the injury to body, 
soul, and property, which had been inflicted on them hitherto ; and 
they had good cause for an attack with flails and clubs, as our Karst- 
hans* threatened." Yet he entertains the hope that no general rising 
would take place, and carry the mass of the people along with it, be- 
cause an end of the antichristian rule of the pope had been announced 
in Scripture, not through violence and insurrection, but through the 
Word of Christ. " For lying and deceit perish when once exposed ; 
they need no other blow, but fall and vanish in ignominy of themselves." 
Supported by this conviction, he had not hitherto been persuaded to 
take the defensive against those who threatened with hand and flail, for 
he believed that a general scramble (Antasten) need not be feared. Still 
the people must be pacified, and be told to suppress even all desires 
and expressions that lead to rebellion, and undertake nothing against 
the powers that be ; for what is done by orderly means cannot be 

* Husbandman : derived from an agricultural implement, Karst. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



157 



considered rebellion : " for rebellion hath no common sense, and more 
often injures the innocent than the guilty ; therefore rebellion cannot 
be right, however just the cause ; more injury than benefit is ever the 
result of it. Therefore respect authority as long as it does not tyran- 
nise and oppress ; but keep hand, and heart, and tongue still "I 

take, and always will take his part, who suffers from rebellion, however 
unjust his cause may be ; and will set myself against him who rebels, let 
his cause be ever so just ; because rebellion cannot take place without 
injury and the shedding of innocent blood." 

But while cautioning the lower orders against rebellion, he was 
perfectly conscious that this was only one half of his task ; with equal 
earnestness he admonished the princes, whose duty it was to suppress 
insurrection. To those who, under the pretext of obedience to the 
emperor, prevented the preaching of the Gospel, he said, with noble 
indignation : " Were the emperor to take from you castle or town, we 
should soon see how cunningly you would prove that you need not obey 
the emperor ; but now, when you seek to grind down the poor man, 
and meddle audaciously with God's Word, you call it obedience to the 
emperor. Such persons were formerly called rogues : now we must 
term them obedient Christian princes. . . . Such are your princes that 
govern our German land : hence the wondrous prosperity throughout 
the country !" 

He then draws the portrait of a true Christian prince: "A true 
Christian prince should assuredly divest himself of the idea of ruling by 
violence ; for cursed is his life who liveth and labours for himself alone ; 
cursed all works that do not flow from love. A prince should exercise 
justice as firmly as he wields the sword; and let his reason determine 
when and where physical force should be applied, and with what degree 
of severity : so that reason should at all times govern law, and ever be 

the supreme authority For when love directs the judgment, you 

can decide in all cases without your law-books ; but when you shut your 
eyes against the law of love and nature, your judgment will never please 
God, even though ye had swallowed all the law-books in the world. . . . 
A righteous judgment should not and cannot be taken from books, 
but must be pronounced from free unfettered thought. But love and 
natural law, — the voice of reason itself, — ever utter such righteous 
judgment. From books we get nothing but laboured, doubtful judg- 
ments. . . . Therefore should written law be accounted below reason, 

u 



158 



A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



from whence it flows as the fountain of justice ; nor should we suffer the 
fountain to be confined to its narrow channel, nor reason to the letter of 
the law." Remarkable words these in the mouth of the German Re- 
former, which prove to us his true and lively perception of the insuffi- 
ciency of mere formal law ; and how clearly he recognised the desire of 
human nature to obtain for the inherent sentiment of justice its due 
weight by the side of the law as incorporated in codes, — a desire which, 
among all free nations, originates the demand for the public and oral 
administration of justice. 

" A prince therefore," in Luther's opinion, " should not rely on codes 
or jurists, but on God alone ; importune him, and pray to him for wis- 
dom to govern his subjects well. I can lay down no law for a prince, but 
would only direct his heart how it should feel and decide in all matters 

of law and justice Let him not think, Law and people are mine ; 

I will do as I like with them ; — but reflect thus : I belong to the law and 
the people ; I must do what will be useful and good for them ; I must 
not aim at tyrannical rule, but how I may peaceably direct and defend 
them. ... Of this I am sure, that the Word of God will not bend and 
give way to princes, but princes must give way to it. It is enough for 
me to show that it is not impossible for a prince to be a Christian, 
although rare and difficult." Here we see already the great weight he 
attaches to the important truth, that princely functions are not mere 
private privileges (according to certain modern theories), but involve, 
above all, a moral responsibility. 

"When the peasants' war, that movement so lamentable in its conse- 
quences, had overrun a great part of Germany, Luther still maintained 
the lofty position of Christian mediator and witness for the truth be- 
tween prince and people, Raised above the fear of man, and never losing- 
sight of eternal truth and the divine judgments, he attacked both parties 
equally with the lightning vigour of his daring mind. In his " Exhor- 
tation to Peace, or the Twelve Articles of the Peasants' Charter in Swa- 
bia," he first represented, in a striking way, the importance and peril of 
this terrible crisis: ''Should this rebellion proceed and get the upper 
hand, both kingdoms (the kingdom of God and of this world) must 
perish : neither temporal rule nor the Word of God would prevail, but 
endless convulsions throughout Germany would ensue. It is therefore 
necessary to speak and advise freely on the subject, without respect 
to persons." 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 159 

He then addresses the rulers and princes : "In the first place, there 
is no one on earth we have to thank more than you for this mischief and 
insurrection, ye princes and rulers, especially ye blind bishops, mad 
priests, and monks, who cease not to rail and rage against the holy Gos- 
pel : moreover, in your temporal rule ye do nothing but plunder and 
oppress, to support your pomps and vanities, until the poor common 
people neither can nor ought to endure it any longer. The sword is at 
your throat : ye still think yourselves so firm in your saddles, that you 
cannot be unhorsed : this confidence and obstinate temerity will break 
your neck ; you will see that. For be it known unto you, that God hath 
so ordered it, that your violence neither will nor ought to be borne with 
any longer. You must change, and submit to God's Word. If you do 
not comply willingly and cheerfully, you will be forced to do it by vio- 
lent and destructive means. If the peasants do it not, others must ; and 
though you defeat them all, yet are they not defeated : God will raise 
up others ; for he hath decreed your destruction, and he will destroy you. 
They are not peasants who oppose you ; it is God himself who opposes 
you, to chastise your fury." 

To those who threw upon his doctrine the blame of having caused 
this insurrection, Luther replied: "You, as well as every one, can tes- 
tify that I have taught quietly, and exhorted all good subjects to obey 
even your tyrannical authorities ; this insurrection, therefore, cannot be 
laid to my charge. But false prophets — as much my foes as yours — 
have got among the people ; for three years they have gone in and out 
among them, and no one hath opposed them so stanchly as myself. If, 
then, God will now punish you, and has suffered the devil, by means 
of his false prophets, to stir up the distracted mob against you, what 
can I or my gospel do in the matter ? . . . . And if I had a desire for 
vengeance, I might laugh in my sleeve and look on, or even join the 
peasants and help to make things worse ; but God preserve me from 
that now as before !" e e „ - 

He further insists, that princes and rulers should accede to all rea- 
sonable demands: " The peasants have proposed twelve articles, among 
which there are some so reasonable and just, that they leave you without 

excuse before God and the world It is true they are nearly all 

intended to promote the interest of the peasants I might -bring 

other articles against you which concern Germany and government, as 
I have done in my book " To the German Nobility ;" but as you have 



160 A SKETCH OF THE KISE AND PROGRESS 

given these to the winds, you must now listen to and put up with ar- 
ticles of this selfish spirit You cannot reject the first article, 

which claims for them the privilege of hearing the Gospel, and the right 

of electing their own pastors Authority must not prevent a man 

from teaching and believing what he wishes, be it gospel or lie ; it is 
enough to prevent the teaching of rebellion and disorder. The other 
articles, having reference to temporal burdens, are, of a truth, just and 
right; for authority hath not been instituted for its own profit and 
caprice, at the expense of the subject, but to do what it best can for 
the good of the subject. Now it is not possible to bear for long such 
plunder and oppression." 

On the other hand, he urged this chiefly on the peasants : to keep 
a good conscience with regard to this matter ; even if conquered, they 
would still be victorious, and save their souls; but in the other case, 
they would lose body and soul, even if they triumphed for a time and 
slew all the princes. " The most important point is, not how powerful 
you are, or how much in the wrong others are ; but how you may keep 
a conscience void of offence." 

He now shows how that both human and divine laws forbid violent 
attempts at self-defence in the body politic ; and proves, from the 
words of Christ and his apostles, that evangelical Christianity and politi- 
cal insurrection are incompatible : " As you boast of the name of Chris- 
tians, you will assuredly bear with the denial of your Christian rights. 
Now listen, beloved Christians ; thus saith your Lord and Master Christ, 
whose name you bear : ' But I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; but 
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also; 
and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him 
have thy cloak also; and whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with 
him, twain.'' 

" How do your projects agree with this law? Ye will not suffer wrong 
or injustice, but desire to be free ; . . . . then put aw r ay the Christian 

name, and boast of another In these texts a child may see what 

is true Christian right : not to resist wrong, not to draw the sword, not 
to defend or avenge oneself, but to resign body and goods, that he who 
robs may rob on : we have sufficient in our Lord, who will not forsake 
us. . . . To suffer and bear the cross is the Christian's privilege ; this and 

no other What doth Christ himself do when they crucify him ? — 

he giveth himself up to Him who judgeth righteously, and suffereth 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 161 

the unbearable wrong. Besides, he prayed for his persecutors : f Father, 
forgive them.' .... If you are true Christians, you must indeed do the 
same, arid follow this example. If ycu do not, then renounce the Christian 
name and your boast of Christian privilege; for then you are assuredly 
not Christians, but opposed to Christ and his law." 

The entire weight of these remonstrances to the peasant-league rests, 
as we see, on the leading principle, that their appeal to the Gospel and 
to Christian right was wholly inadmissible in political questions, because 
true Christianity could never depart from its purely spiritual and inward 
nature ; he, therefore, who would seriously invoke the sanction of Chris- 
tianity could take no other way, amidst the pressure of the outer 
world, than that of utter self-denial, of calm trust in God, and submis- 
sion to His righteousness. It was Luther's great object to preserve the 
spiritual character of the Reformation and of Christianity intact, un- 
corrupted, and unembarrassed by movements of an entirely opposite 
nature. Advancing in this direction, he must arrive at a conclusion, 
the immeasurable importance of which was known or fully appreciated 
neither by his own nor subsequent times ; the conclusion, namely, that 
genuine Christianity, in the true original spirit of the Founder and Head 
of the church, was, upon the whole, only the business of a few, and that 
this had never been otherwise : " Dear friends, the Christians are not so 
numerous, that so many could assemble in a crowd ; a Christian is a rare 
bird. Would to God that the greater number of us were pious heathens 
even, who kept the natural law, to say nothing about Christian law." 
Have we not already in this thought, if we carry it out fearlessly, the 
germ of all those changes towards which the relation between church 
and state, religion and ecclesiastical establishments, national church and 
sects in modern times, more and more pointedly tend? It was therefore 
his proposition, to bring about peace, to reconcile these differences by 
means of impartial arbitration; to adjust by moral, not by physical, force 
the relation between the powers that be and the subject; and to purify 
and ennoble it more and more by the progressive influence of the spirit 
of the Gospel. " Not that I intend to justify or defend the intolerable 
injustice you endure from your governments (I admit their horrible in- 
justice); but this is what I desire : that if neither party will take advice, 
none of them can be called Christians ; but let them, according to the 
course of this world, fight it out, and God punish one rogue by the 
other. Poor sinful man that I am, I know that I have a just cause 



162 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

when I fight for the Christian name, and pray it may not be dis- 
graced Such comfort and confidence in praying ye cannot have ; 

for conscience and Scripture prove that you act like heathens, and not 
like Christians. I know also that none of you have called upon God in 
this matter; for ye dare not raise your eyes towards him, but set him 
at naught with your fists. But if ye were Christians, ye would cleave 
to s our Father,' carry your cause to God in prayer, and say, l thy will 
be done ; deliver us from evil.' The true Christian way to be delivered 
from evil and misery, is patiently to endure and to cry to God. But as 
Christ hath no lot or part in either side, and nothing Christian is pend- 
ing between you, and both nobles and peasants strive only for heathen- 
ish and worldly justice and temporal advantage, for God's sake be ad- 
vised and set about it lawfully, and not with violence, that ye may not 
deluge Germany with blood Ye nobles have history and Scrip- 
ture against you, showing how tyrants are punished Ye peasants 

also have both Scripture and experience against you, which prove that 

rebellion never prospers If ye will not follow my advice, I give 

you up ; but I am innocent of your blood — be it on your own heads! 
Ye nobles, fight not against Christians, but against public robbers, a dis- 
grace to the Christian name ; those among them who will be slain are 
already damned eternally. Again, ye peasants, fight not against Christ, 
but against tyrants, enemies of God and man, and against the murderers 
of Christ's saints ; those of them who perish are likewise eternally 

damned. This is God's assured sentence against you both As 

for me and mine, we will entreat God that he may either reconcile and 
unite you, or mercifully frustrate your devices." 

His hopes " that the strife might be appeased, if not altogether in 
a Christian spirit, yet according to human laws and treaties," were not 
to be realised, owing, as he had foreseen, equally to faults on both 
sides. The fearful tragedy of the " German peasant war" could not be 
averted ; the German soil was saturated by the blood shed in a horrible 
civil war, the guilt of which rested equally on the brutality and law- 
lessness of the masses, as on the hardness of heart and treachery of 
several of the victorious governments. 

When Luther received intelligence of the acts of violence committed 
by the peasants in more than one district, of the danger of an impending 
"terrorism" from the insurgent masses and their fanatical leaders, he 
abandoned the conciliatory course he had hitherto pursued, and directed 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 163 

the full measure of his wrath, the whole weight of his word and 
influence, against the insurrection, the immediate suppression of which 
he declared to be the first and most urgent duty of the governments. 
He did this principally in the pamphlet entitled, "Against the plunder- 
ing murdering Peasantry" (May 1525). 

" In my former writing," he says, " I would not harshly judge the 
peasants, because they were willing to submit to justice and be better 
instructed. But before I had time to look round, they proceeded to 
blows, plundered and destroyed like mad dogs, showing plainly the 

devices of their false hearts They are doing naught but the 

devil's work ; and he especially is the arch-devil who reigns at Miihl- 
hausen (Thomas Munzer), and commits theft, murder, and bloodshed. 
. . . Because, then, their deeds are different from their words, I must 
write of them in a different style, and instruct the conscience of the 
temporal power how to act." 

Rebellion now appeared to him as the most fearful evil that could 
afflict a country ; as the desolating strife of the elements, as fire and 
blood, against which extreme measures are not only permitted, but a 
sacred duty : " Rebellion is not ordinary murder, but conflagration, 
which fires and consumes a whole country. Therefore smite, slay, stab, 
secretly or openly, whoever can ; and remember that there is nothing 
more venomous, pernicious, and devilish than a rebel. Slay him like a 
mad dog ; if thou killest him not, he will kill thee, and a whole country 
with thee. A prince and governor must remember that he is God's 
deputy and the minister of His wrath, to whom the sword is intrusted 
to punish such villains. For if he can punish and doth not, he is guilty 
of all the murder and mischief which these villains commit. This is no 
time for slumber, nor for patience or mercy ; it is a time for the sword ; 
a season of wrath, and not of grace. Therefore let the authorities 
advance with good courage, and smite home with a safe conscience, as 

long as the blood flows in their veins They may appeal to God 

with all tranquillity of heart, and say : ' Lo, O God, thou hast ap- 
pointed me to be a prince and ruler, and hast intrusted me with the 
sword to punish the evil-doer. (Rom. xiii.) Thou hast spoken, and 
cannot lie ; therefore I must discharge my trust at peril of thy favour ; 
it is manifest that these peasants in many ways have deserved death, 
before thee and the world. If it is thy will that I should perish by 
their hands, so be it, thy will be done ; I shall die and perish in 



164 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PEOGEESS 

obedience to thy commandment and word.' .... Thus he who is slain 
in the cause of authority will be a true martyr before God, if he fight 
in this conviction, for he walks in the word of God and obedience. 
On the contrary, he who falls in the cause of the peasants is a brand 
that will burn for ever in hell-fire, for he uses the sword against God's 
word and commandment. We live in such strange times, that a prince 

can serve God with bloodshed better than others with prayer 

Therefore, my good lords, see to it that ye set free, save, help, and 
have mercy on those poor people (compelled by the peasants, against 
their will, to join their league) ; then stab, slay, and kill the rest, who 
can ! If you perish in doing this, it will be well with you ; a more 
blessed death you cannot die. You die in obeying God's command, 
and in the service of love; in saving your neighbour from the bonds of 
the devil. I pray you, then, let all who can, flee from the peasants as 
from the devil himself; but those who will not flee, I pray God to 
enlighten and convert them. As for those who cannot be converted, 
may they never prosper ! To this let all true Christians say, Amen." 

Luther most likely felt the reproaches to which he exposed himself 
by these violent expressions, for he concludes his address with the 
words : " If any one think this too severe, let him reflect that rebellion 
is not to be tolerated, and that the destruction of all temporal power 
may be expected every hour." This did not, however, prevent many 
of his contemporaries, Protestants and Catholics, from censuring, more 
or less loudly, this merciless rigour and cruelty ; and the same reproach 
has been reiterated again and again, from that time to this. It is quite 
true that there is something in these inflammatory words repugnant 
alike to friends and enemies. They furnish another instance of that 
license and intemperance of expression, which he could never control 
when writing or speaking under the influence of strong emotion. An 
enemy might assert that the massacre of the peasants was urged by him 
with the same fanatical spirit with which, a few centuries before, the 
infuriated Dominicans preached the extermination of the Albigenses. 
It is nevertheless an element in Luther's greatness, that he clings with 
such tenacity to the religious character of his task and vocation ; and 
when this w T as menaced by the breaking-out of the insurrection, he 
evoked every energy for its suppression ; he even invested this resistance 
with the sanctity of a divine and Christian act. Nor must we forget 
that the violent and apparently merciless spirit of his appeals for the 



OE THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 165 

suppression of the revolt by the sword must be looked upon, without 
doubt, as a direct reply to the cruel and incendiary addresses of Miinzer 
and his associates. The most severe measures adopted by the authorities 
for the suppression of the revolt, when compared with the horrors of 
anarchy and the abominations of mob-rule, appeared to him as an actual 
blessing, a strong medicine, an inevitable though painful remedy. 

The violent communistic (that is to say, despoiling) tendency which 
prevailed, partially and especially through Miinzer, in the movement 
of the peasants, professedly resting on scriptural grounds, was also 
opposed by Luther with direct appeals to Scripture : " It is of no use 
for the peasants to assert, that in the 1st of Genesis all things are said 
to be created for the free and common use of all, and that we have 
all been baptised alike. For in the New Testament Moses is of no 
account : there we find Christ is our master, who subjects us, body 
and goods, to the emperor and temporal authority, saying : i Give unto 
Caesar the things which are Caesar's.' Thus also St. Paul says to all 
baptised Christians : ' Let every one be subject to the powers that be.' 
Baptism only makes the soul free, not body and property. Neither 
doth the Gospel make our possessions common, except in the case of 
him who doth so of his own accord, like the apostles and disciples, 
who did not require that the property of strangers, such as Pilate and 
Herod, should be held in common, as our senseless peasants rave, but 
merely their own possessions. But our peasants will have a share in 
the goods of other people, and keep their own to themselves: clever 
Christians they ! I think there are no more devils in hell ; they have 
all entered into the feasants." 



The sword of princes and rulers speedily subdued the insurrection, 
by the slaughter of the leaders and their misguided followers. Every 
act of cruelty and excess committed by the rebels was now avenged by 
the conquerors, in most places with double and treble cruelty and 
severity ; so that Luther uttered again a cry of distress and indignation 
on hearing of it: " Alas, I have feared it! Had the peasants become 
masters, the devil would have been abbot ; but now, as these unchris- 
tian, bloodthirsty tyrants are again masters, the devil's mother will be 
abbess !" 

When the insurrection was suppressed, Luther was able to return 

x 



166 A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGRESS 

to the tranquil prosecution of his work. He was permitted to achieve 
what is rarely accomplished by the originator of a great movement, — 
namely, to check the revolution without giving up the reformation. 
It is true that his success in these critical moments must be attri- 
buted to his alliance with the temporal powers and to their assistance. 
No leader of the French and English revolution succeeded in solving 
a similar problem : Mirabeau and Pym were snatched away by death 
before they even made an attempt to stem the revolutionary torrent, 
and Lafayette was crushed in the endeavour. 

The maintaining of his principle was doubtless connected with the 
keenest sufferings of Luther's spirit. Had he not cause to reproach 
himself, in his retirement, with having contributed, by the intemperate, 
irascible, and inflammatory words of his earlier years, to this saDguinary 
result ? Did he not see the future political condition of his county, 
and the progress of the Reformation, incalculably impeded and retarded 
by these revolutionary attempts ? Was he not himself so materially 
changed in consequence of this struggle against the religious and poli- 
tical revolution, that a remarkable contrast is observable between the 
Luther of 1520 and 1525? 

In the struggle 'against Rome he became conscious of the strength and 
depth of his opinions ; in the struggle against the revolution he perceived 
their peril and limitation. 



THE REFORMER AND HIS WORK. 



The great change which had taken place in the position of affairs 
during the eight years (1517-1525) which had elapsed since Luther's 
entrance on public life, will be clearly perceived if we consider for a 
moment the condition of his friends and enemies. From among the 
leaders in the work of civilisation who had principally promoted the 
great religious movement, one, Reuchlin, was now on the point of 
death ; another, Hutten, had found a solitary grave as an exile on one 
of the islands of the Lake of Zurich ; a third, the most influential of 
all, Erasmus, had abandoned the cause when it gave rise to violent com- 






OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 16 7 

motion. Popular literature, at first so powerful an instrument in these 
changes, became in one direction a tool of the most destructive radi- 
calism, and in another had already experienced the influence of Catho- 
lic re-action ; while it is true the purest and best organs of the time 
still adhered to the hero of Worms, whom Hans Sachs hailed as the 
" Wittenberg nightingale." Luther saw his emperor, the chief of 
the nation, in the toils of the Romanists, unable to appreciate the bent 
of the German mind and the spirit of the Reformation, and many 
German princes opposing the new doctrine with deadly enmity. He 
also saw the flower of the Franconian knights, who had espoused the 
cause of the Reformation, cut off and dispersed by the downfall of 
Sickingen ; the peasantry, after a fatal insurrection, slaughtered by 
thousands ; and the survivors more completely enslaved than before. 

How complete the change since the time when hopes still existed 
that the whole nation would possibly follow with one accord the Gospel 
banner of freedom and love ! Now, Luther could only rely on one or 
two reigning princes, on a circle of faithful friends, and on the stanch 
devoted heart of the people. Above all this, however, he trusted in 
the sanctity of his cause and the protection of God. 

Hitherto we have endeavoured to survey the depth of his character 
and his abiding influence in three distinct ways : by considering the 
history of his gradual mental training up to his liberation from the 
shackles of popery ; then in his struggle against the corruptions of the 
ancient church ; and lastly, in his opposition to extreme innovation. 

Our remaining task is to bring before the reader the leading fea- 
tures of the Protestant organisation as emanating from him ; to por- 
tray himself in his ministerial and domestic relations ; and conclude by 
tracing the result of his work in succeeding centuries. 



LUTHER FOUNDER OF A NEW CHURCH, 

To form a correct estimate of Luther as the founder of a new church, 
we must not lose sight of the fact that it formed in the first instance 
no part of his intention to become the originator of a new church. 

The purification of the existing church from her corruption, her 
liberation from the tyranny under which she groaned, was Luther's grand 
principle in assailing the papacy: it made him the teacher of his nation. 






A SKETCH OF THE KISE AND PROGRESS 



The force of circumstances, and the imperious demands of the hour, 
compelled him, almost against his will, to devise measures of organisa- 
tion, and to assist in laying the foundation of a new order of things in 
the more immediate sphere of his influence. In the beginning, how- 
ever, nothing could have been farther from his thoughts than the de- 
sign of becoming the head of a party, or the founder of the system 
which, in a more narrow and confined sense, has been denominated 
Lutheranism. 

He protests against this with the strongest expressions in his " Ad- 
monitions" (1522) : ts I beseech you, above all things, not to use my 
name; not to call yourselves Lutherans, but Christians. What is Luther ? 
The doctrine is not mine ; I have been crucified for no one. Paul 
would not suffer the Christians to say : I am of Paul ; or, I am of 
Peter; but, I am Christ's. How, then, can the followers of Christ call 
themselves after the unsnnctified name of a poor stinking mass of cor- 
ruption (stinkender Madensack), such as I am ? Let us blot out all 
party-names, and call ourselves Christians, as we follow Christ's doc- 
trine. The papists have justly a party-name ; because, unsatisfied with 
Christ's name and doctrine, they will be popish too. Let them be 
called after the pope, their master. I am and will he no man's master. 
In common with my brethren (der Gemeine), 7" hold the only universal 
(einige gemeine) doctrine of Christ, ivho alone is our master." 

The irresistible progress of the religious movement proved to him 
unequivocally that a greater power was at work than that of a mere 
weak individual : " It is not our work that is now going on in the 
world ; it is not possible that a human being could alone commence and 
carry on so great a scheme. It has, indeed, gone thus far without my 
thought and planning; it will be brought to a good end without my 
counsel, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. There is 
another who turns the wheel, whom the papists see not, but lay the 
blame on us." He then comprises in a few words the substance of 
what he considered at that time the legitimate working of the Refor- 
mation : " Obey the Gospel, and help others to do so ; teach, write, and 
preach that human laws are nothing ; prevent and dissuade any one from 
becoming a monk, priest, or nun ; and let those who are in the cloister 
come out of it. Give no more money for bulls, tapers, bells, and 
churches; but maintain that a Christian life consists in faith and love. 
Persist in this for two years, and you will see what will become of pope, 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. lf,9 

bishops, cardinals, priests, monks, nuns, masses, and the whole swarm of 
popish vermin {Geschicurm und Gewurm). It will vanish like smoke." 

Thus we see his confidence in the power of the evangelical doctrine 
was so great, that he fully expected the mere promulgation and obeying 
it would suffice to dissipate as a vapour the papacy, with the entire 
Romish church, of which the pope was only the head ; whose place pure 
Christianity, the life of faith and love, would then occupy. He re- 
garded faith and love as the sum of evangelical Christianity, as he has 
already explained in his treatise "Of the Liberty of a Christian ;" de- 
signating the essence of inward Christianity as faith, and the external 
active influence as love. We shall not therefore err, if we conclude that 
a more profound and lively conception of faith and love appeared to 
him prominently at the outset as the essence of the Reformation. This 
was, consciously or unconsciously, the motive power of his entire life, 
giving sublimity to his vocation, and rendering imperishable the result 
of his mission as the reformer of Christendom, by the revival of true 
religion from her spiritual and original sources. These spiritual and ori- 
ginal sources are nowhere to be found but in true faith and pure love. 

But it was of incalculable importance that both should be under- 
stood and made effectual in a vivifying manner, and in the true spirit of 
the Gospel, as the life-giving principle of the new epoch, and of purified 
and liberated religion. Luther and reformation gave the impulse which 
accomplished this; and the immortal merit of this achievement is the 
royal diadem which no subsequent age nor generation can pluck from 
Luther's brow. But we do not hesitate one moment to express even 
now the conviction which pervades our whole account of his work, that 
this impulse must not be confounded with a perfect religious system 
complete in itself. At this point, indeed, Lutheranism and Calvinism, 
narrow, exclusive, and self-sufficient, separate from free and compre- 
hensive evangelical Protestantism. The object sought by Luther and 
the Reformation, in its first movement, was the revival and regeneration 
of Christianity, by an earnest return to personal religion, and by pene- 
trating deeply into the ancient written sources of the religion of the 
Saviour of the world. Both paths led to the two fundamental princi- 
ples of evangelical Protestantism (known in theological language as 
the material and formal principle of the Reformation) : justification 
through faith alone; and the sole authority of the holy Scriptures as the 
true record of primitive Christianity. 



170 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

Both these principles are meant as a more accurate explanation and 
definition of that which Luther and the Reformation expressed by the 
word faith; a word which has created, down to our time, a whole sea 
of error, misinterpretations, and contradictions. The key to their true 
apprehension will be found in the opposite principles which they were 
originally intended to resist. The doctrine of justification by faith alone, 
stood opposed to the Romish notion of the necessity of good works 
to salvation, — works signifying certain exercises and penances pre- 
scribed by the church ; while the doctrine of the sole and all-sufficient 
authority of the Scriptures was meant to overthrow the popish doctrine 
of the authority and necessity of tradition. In both these principles, 
the great results of Luther's religious experience are forcibly shown : 
they were essentially the product of his inward and outward struggle ; 
the watchword of his liberation, and of the hostile position he assumed 
against Rome. 

The grace of God and not our own merit, God's Word and not mans 
doctrine, was the salient point of this antagonism, as he then appre- 
hended it, and as he subsequently, after a long interval, finally estab- 
lished it. The doctrine of justification by faith was in his view a com- 
plete denial of individual merit ; conducing absolutely to the glorifying 
of God's grace, and to the blessed salvation of sinful men. It was the 
view of Augustine, based upon certain principles of the Apostle Paul, 
which governed him unconditionally in his conception of the relation 
between sin and redemption, God and man, the freedom and bondage of 
the human will, and impelled him to the most daring and stringent con- 
clusions of his belief in predestination. He who has reached that stage 
in his knowledge of Christianity, from which he regards the Augustine 
view no longer as the highest and only valid exposition of the Gospel, 
but as one grand attempt, among others equally legitimate, to embody 
in human words and ideas the inconceivable and unfathomable mystery 
of divine love, will also perceive the necessity of a marked distinction in 
that fundamental doctrine of Luther and of the Reformation. The way 
and manner in which Luther gradually conceived this doctrine in his 
mind, how he adopted and expressed it, shows us (in a large sense) only 
the temporal and perishable shell in which the kernel of an imperishable 
religious principle was to attain maturity : it was, to make use of an ana- 
logous figure, the tree girt about with thorns, the fruit of which w T as 
destined to supply present and future generations with delicious refresh- 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



171 






ment ; and it is this fruit which aids Christianity in preserving its spi- 
ritual, life-giving power. For as long as this banner of Protestantism 
is reared on high, the most profound and essential truth of the Christian 
religion can never, for any length of time, be misconceived or lost : that 
truth, that the awful abyss between the Creator and the creature, be- 
tween God and man, can only be bridged over by the mystery of grace, 
that is, free and saving love ; and that its trustful reception and ap- 
propriation (consequently the conversion, salvation, and blessedness of 
man) takes place in the inward sanctuary of the human soul, and is 
therefore a work of faith, depending on nothing external. With this 
truth, the religion of the heart, — the deep, unconquerable, and ever- 
renovating character of Christianity, — stands or falls ; in this sense the 
Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith remains an imperishable 
bulwark of the Gospel. 

We may accept these essential and fundamental points of Protestant- 
ism fully and with absolute and steadfast conviction, and nevertheless 
reject, clearly and decidedly, the assumptions, the dogmatic and scho- 
lastic formulae and deductions, with which Luther has invested this 
true and fundamental principle. Every one who has the courage and 
ability to draw his faith directly from a serious study of the Scriptures, 
and from individual experience in a truly evangelical and Protestant 
sense, will be compelled to assert this right with reference to nearly all 
the principal points of Luther's doctrine, rather than submit to scho- 
lastic formulas prepared by one party or the other for his unconditional 
acceptance. Indeed, Luther's mind itself vacillated incessantly on the 
immovable pivot of a few leading maxims ; his convictions varying in 
form and tenour, as he was tossed to and fro in the struggle, driven by 
this party or by that, by the superstition, sceptickm, or fanaticism of 
his opponents. 

Luther's position with reference to the authority of the Scriptures 
w T as exactly similar. His trust in it was so unimpeachable, that faith 
in the divine origin of the Bible became as an unquestionable fact, 
the dominant idea of his whole remaining life. Still his reliance on 
the Scriptures was, without doubt, influenced by the fundamental doc- 
trine of justification by faith, so that the sum-total of Christianity ap- 
peared to him to be contained in the leading truth which he simply 
designated the " Gospel," in respect to which the remaining topics of 
the Scriptures were frequently thrust into the background. i( Christian 



172 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

faith," lie asserts, " is the belief that man is justified and saved without 
works ; and so resigns himself, and all he can do, as to rely on the merits 
of Christ alone. I stand not alone in this ; I am not the only one, not 
even the first, who hath said, faith alone justifieth : Ambrose hath said 
it before me, also Augustine, and many others ; and whoever can read 
and understand St. Paul must say the same, and not otherwise, for his 
words are so strong, and admit of no works." So assured was he that St. 
Paul's doctrine of justification through faith, that glorious keystone of 
Christianity, was in fact the essence of the Gospel, that he ventured — ■ 
solely to give more decided prominence to this fundamental principle 
— on the hazardous and unwarrantable step of an arbitrary addition, in 
harmony, it is true, with the spirit and connexion of the original. It is 
well known that he ventured on the introduction of the word " allein' 
(alone) in Romans iii. 28, which is not found in the original Greek; 
" Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith (alone), without 
the deeds of the law." He defended himself against the reproaches to 
which this liberty taken with the text justly exposed him, in a manner 
coarse and defiant, but by no means satisfactory. " Therefore shall it 
remain in my New Testament ; and though it drive your popish asses 
wild, they shall not make me leave it out." Among the reasons he 
assigns for this act of daring are, independent of the peculiar case and 
the character of the German language, also the example of the fathers, 
and the peril of the people : " They would rely on works, and be want- 
ing in faith, and so lose Christ; especially in these times, when they have 
so long been accustomed to works." 

He applied this rule not only to single passages, but to measure the 
value and importance of entire books of the New Testament, and made 
it at times an absolute canon of scriptural criticism : " You must," he 
said, "judge fairly of all the books (of the Bible), and decide which are 
the best: for instance, the gospel of St. John and the epistles of Paul, 
especially that to the Romans, and the first epistle of Peter, are the 
pith and marrow of all the books; they ought, indeed, to be the first; 
and I would advise every Christian to read them first and most often, 
and make them, by daily study, as familiar as daily bread. For in these 
thou findest but few works and miracles of Christ recorded ; but thou 
findest described in a masterly way, how faith in Christ conquers sin, 
death, and hell, and giveth life, righteousness, and salvation — which is the 
true nature of the Gospel. For if I must do either without the works or 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 173 

the teaching of Christ, I would rather be without the works than with- 
out any portion of the preaching : the works do not help me, but his 
words ; they give life as He himself. Now as John hath recorded few 
of Christ's works, but much of his preaching ; the three other evan- 
gelists, on the contrary, many of his works (?), few of his words, — the 
gospel of John is the only living true heart-gospel — to be preferred 
before, and estimated more highly, than the other three. In the same 
way, the epistles of Paul and Peter excel the three gospels of Matthew, 
Mark, and Luke. In fine, the gospel of John and the epistles of Paul, 
especially those to the Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, also the first 
epistle of Peter, — these are the boohs which show thee Christ, and teach all 
that it is necessary to know for thy salvation, even wert thou never to see or 
hear any other book or doctrine. In the same way, the epistle of James 
is truly one of straw ; for, indeed, it hath nothing evangelical about it. 
In this one thing all the truly sacred books agree : they all of them 
preach Christ, and set him forth. This is the true touchstone by which 
to judge books — whether they set forth Christ or not; since all Scripture 
exhibits Christ, and will know nothing but Christ. Whatsoever doth 
not teach Christ is not apostolic, though Peter or Paul taught it ; on the 
other hand, whatsoever teacheth Christ is apostolical, although it were 
the work of Judas, Annas, or Herod." 

Pie asserts this principle of the boldest, and at the same time most 
dogmatic criticism, with a daring and candour before which the idola- 
trous adherence of later Protestant divines to the letter of the Scriptures 
would recoil : " The epistle to the Hebrews appears to me composed 
of many pieces ; but it speaks in a thorough, masterly way of the priest- 
hood of Christ, and expounds the Old Testament fully and with preci- 
sion ; so that it is plainly the work of a man of sound learning, experi- 
enced in the faith, and conversant with the Scriptures, a disciple of the 
apostles, and who learnt much from them. And although he does not 
lay the foundation of faith, which is the function of the apostles, yet he 
buildeth thereon gold, silver, and precious stones. Therefore must we 
not take offence if wood, straw, or hay be mingled with it, but ought 
to receive such good doctrine in all honour ; only we must not place it 
on a level with the apostolic epistles. The epistle of James I do not 
consider as the writing of an apostle at all, for these reasons : first, that 
it ascribes justification to works, in direct contradiction to Paul and all 
the other sacred writers ; secondly, that it undertakes to teach others, 

Y 



174 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



and yet, in all this long teaching, doth not once allude to the sufferings, 
resurrection, and spirit of Christ. He mentions Christ several times, 
jet teacheth nothing about him, but only speaks of faith in God gene- 
rally. Now the function of a true apostle is to preach Christ's sufferings, 
resurrection, and office, and to lay the foundation of faith in the same. 
But this James enjoins only the law and works, and so confuses the one 
with the other, that it appears to me as if some good pious man had 
caught a few sayings from the disciples of the apostles, and had com- 
mitted them to paper ; or it is possibly written by another from his 
preaching. To sum up, he wishes to oppose those who rely on faith 
without works ; and proving too weak for his task, he attempts to en- 
force by the law what the apostles effect by the drawings of love. I 
cannot, therefore, place this epistle among the really chief books, but 
will prevent no one from judging of it as he pleases, for many good 
texts are to be found therein. The epistle of Jude, as an extract or 
copy of the second epistle of Peter, need not be accounted one of the 
leading books. With respect to the Revelation of John, let every one 
follow his own opinion ; I state what I feel. For more than one reason, 
I cannot deem this book either apostolic or prophetic. First and fore- 
most, the apostles do not report visions, but prophesy in plain simple 
words ; for it behoveth the apostolic function to speak of Christ and 
his works without figure or vision. No prophet of the Old Testament, 
to say nothing of the New, hath dealt so much in visions; so that I almost 
esteem it like the fourth book of Ezra, and can most assuredly find in 
it no trace of the Holy Spirit. Let every man entertain his own opinion 
with respect to it ; my mind cannot away with the book ; and it is 
sufficient reason for me not to esteem it highly, that Christ is neither 
taught nor known in it. Therefore I abide by the books which show 
me Christ clearly and purely." 

It will be evident to every one familiar with the subject, that we 
quote these passages merely as illustrating Luther's individual sen- 
timents, and by no means to favour a new authority in matters of faith 
based upon his word. Whoever seeks to obtain an independent and 
thorough comprehension of divine revelation in the Scripture will heartily 
adopt the profound words of Luther, that all the holy Scriptures in- 
terpret themselves by the connection and comparison of separate passages 
and books, without looking to Rome. We attach, however, great impor- 
tance to these expressions of the reformer, because they prove that the 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



17.3 



principle of Protestantism had even at that time occasionally reached in 
Luther's mind a point from which it timidly receded subsequently for 
several centuries, until the struggles and labours of more modern times 
rendered a return to it, and to the solution of the problem connected 
with it, imperative. These sentiments of Luther exhibit with equal dis- 
tinctness the individual and highly-coloured character of his religious life, 
and of his personal development and experience. But this individual 
standard will not always suffice rightly to estimate the manifold ways of 
God, which, from very different premises than his, conduct as certainly 
to truth and life. However much our conception of individual points 
may differ from his, the decisive fact still remains in its full importance, 
that Luther, by asserting and maintaining the two great principles of 
the Reformation, — justification by faith, and the authority of the holy 
Scriptures, — opened to the Christian spirit a new career of knowledge, 
development, and freedom for centuries to come. 

It was assuredly not in accordance with Luther's nature, to under- 
take, of his own choice and without the pressure of necessity, the syste- 
matic organisation of the new doctrine ; a task much better adapted to 
Melanchthon's character, who indeed took the first step towards it, until 
Calvin afterwards rendered the most effective service in this direction. 
Luther's greatness and power did not consist in rounding off a system, 
but rather in working out and contending for fundamental truths, in 
giving body to a principle conceived by him ; he being ever essentially 
influenced and determined by the warfare of antagonistic principles. 

Many urgent motives combined, at the earliest period of the Refor- 
mation, to render the embodying of the details of the new doctrine into 
a definite confession of faith absolutely necessary; for at every public 
conference respecting these changes, the want of a clear and firm asser- 
tion of the newly-acquired position against the Romish church, as well 
as against extreme radical tendencies, made itself painfully perceptible. 
The first formal confession of the reformed faith was therefore, in essen- 
tials, the result of the immediately preceding struggle against Rome, 
against the political and religious revolution, and against the dissentient 
views respecting the sacrament of the Lord's supper. In this sense, the 
Augsburg Confession gave to the Reformation its provisional form in 
doctrinal matters. With this celebrated diet at Augsburg — thirteen years 
after Luther's theses had sounded the alarm — the great moment arrived 
when a number of German princes and towns professed publicly and 



176 A SKETCH OF THE KISE AND PROGRESS 

solemnly, before emperor and people, the evangelical principles of the 
Reformation, and thereby declared their recognition by the law of the 
land. In the preceding year (April 9th, 1529) those who held the 
same religious opinions had formed themselves into the " Protestant 
party" at the diet at Spires by their " protestation" against the conclu- 
sions of the Catholic majority. In that collective protestation we hear 
a noble echo of the individual protestation of a single conscience, which 
Luther alone had made at Worms (1521). As, however, that protesta- 
tion proceeded only from a minority of the German states at the diet, 
the hope (which Luther entertained as late as 1522) that the Refor- 
mation would become the cause of all Germany, had vanished, and 
the separation of the German nation at its religious root was all but 
decided. 

As in the doctrine, so in the worship and constitution of the new 
church, Luther proceeded slowly, step by step, as the necessity of the 
moment and the progress of the people permitted ; in all cases he 
endeavoured to fall in with existing institutions, purifying and improv- 
ing them, — rather to become the reformer of the ancient than the 
founder of an entirely new church. 

In the preface to Melanchthon's " Instruction for the "Visitors to the 
Clergy in the Electorate of Saxony," he expressly stated, " that it was 
not intended by this to make new laws and decrees, but only a history 
and confession of our faith, until God the Holy Ghost give something 
better." He protects himself in the same manner, in the pamphlet, 
" German Mass and Order of Divine Service" (1526), most carefully from 
the suspicion that he wished to become the clerical legislator of Pro- 
testant Germany : " Above all things, I affectionately beseech those 
who observe or follow our order of public worship, not to consider it 
as an indispensable law, nor as a means to mislead or entrap the con- 
science of any one thereby, but to use it in Christian liberty, how, 
when, where, and how long it may be fit and required by circumstances. 
It is not my opinion that all Germany should adopt our Wittenberg 
order." But he forgot in these regulations, which he yet described so 
unequivocally as preliminary and provisional, to specify how and by 
whom, and under what forms, future changes should be introduced. 
This omission was caused by the uncertain and unprepared attitude in 
which Luther stood to the whole question of church-government* for 
which indeed he felt no vocation. Impelled by the circumstances of the 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 177 



moment, he took provisional measures, which at a subsequent period were 
made, partially at least, absolute ; and left the new church eventually 
in a condition rather resembling the scaffolding made for the erection of 
a building than the edifice itself. 

True to the spiritual character of his religious sentiments, he re- 
garded the externals of religion, all that relates to worship and the 
constitution of the church, not as a vital question, but as a matter of 
education and progressive culture, to bring those as yet spiritual babes, 
who were still in bondage, to spiritual maturity and freedom. " Since 
there is nothing in these external ordinances that concerns our conscience 
before God, and they may yet be useful to our neighbour, we ought 
to consider them in the spirit of love, to cause us all to be of one 
mind, to act in the same manner ; even as all Christians have one bap- 
tism, one sacrament, and to none is any special one given by God. 
To sum up, we do not establish these forms for the sake of those who 
are already Christians, — they do not need any of these things, they wor- 
ship God in the spirit; but for the sake of those such ordinances are 
necessary, who are yet to become Christians, or strengthened in the faith : 
just as a Christian needs not baptism, the word, and the sacrament, 
as a Christian (for he has all things already), but as a sinner. Above 
all, these ordinances are necessary for the ignorant and the young, who 
ought to and must be brought up and exercised daily in the Scrip- 
tures. For their sake we must read, sing, pray, preach, write, and 
compose hymns ; and if it would tend to their good, I would gladly 
have all the bells ring, all the organs pipe, and every thing else make 
music that can. It is in this that popish worship is so objectionable, 
that a work and a merit is made of it, instead of its being employed for 
the instruction of the young and ignorant by exercising them in the 
Scriptures and the word of God. 

As he distinguished here so plainly between those who were already 
Christians, and others who were to become so, he arrived necessarily 
at the conclusion, that different forms of divine service are required, 
besides the general form, for these different degrees of Christian 
knowledge, because those far advanced and matured in faith and know- 
ledge might put forth their claim for the due supply of their spiritual 
wants in the worship and constitution of the church. Indeed, he enters 
upon the consideration of this subject without any reserve, and thus 
recognises a pressing and spiritual claim which has scarcely ever, and 



A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PEOGEESS 



at no time satisfactorily, been met by the Protestant churches, and 
which, for that reason, has often asserted its right in a morbid, extra- 
vagant, and fantastic manner. Luther accordingly introduces three 
different grades of divine service ; first, the Latin mass (purified in the 
spirit of the Gospel), the frequent use of which he desired to retain 
especially for the sake of the young : " For I by no means wish to 
dispense with the use of the Latin language in divine service. I do 
not agree with those who confine themselves to one language ; for I 
am anxious to educate such youths and adults who may be useful to 
Christ in foreign countries also, and converse with the people." The 
second form of worship proposed by him is the German mass, " for 
the sake of the ignorant laity." Both modes of worship, the Latin and 
the German mass, are to suit the requirements of a national church, 
or a church for the people, as a " public attraction to Christian faith" 
for those great miscellaneous assemblies, " among whom there are many 
who do not yet believe, nor are Christians, but most of them stand 
by and gape for something new, as if we were celebrating divine wor- 
ship in the open air among Turks or infidels." From these modes of 
worship he distinguished, in the most marked manner, " the third kind, 
which is the true manner of evangelical ordinances" under which class 
he comprehended, if we may so speak, the intimate communion of the 
esoteric church, the evangelical priesthood of all true Christians, ma- 
ture in faith and love, which was intended to take the place of the 
hierarchy of the Romish priesthood. The special worship of this more 
exclusive religious communion (Spener's ecclesiola in ecclesia) should, 
in Luther's opinion, " not take place so publicly among all sorts of people; 
but those who are serious Christians, and ready to confess the Gospel 
with hand and mouth, should inscribe their names and assemble together 
in some private house for prayer, reading, and baptism, to receive the 
sacrament, and perform other Christian works." Within this circle he 
advised the introduction of a certain church-discipline and care of the 
poor : " Here baptism and the sacrament might be dealt with briefly 
but decorously, and attention be devoted principally to the word, to 
prayer, and to labours of love." 

This was, alas, but an idea thrown in the lap of time ; he did not 
consider those more immediately around him, his German contempo- 
raries as a whole, sufficiently prepared for such a measure: "I can 
and may not yet establish and regulate such a community or assembly, 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 179 

for I have not yet the necessary persons, nor do I see that many desire 
it;" therefore he would confine himself to the two first grades of divine 
service, in addition to preaching, until he could with a good conscience 
introduce also the third order, when, on some future day, true and 
earnest Christians might unite for that object and require it of him. 
If he were not to wait for that time, but seek to carry out his pro- 
ject by himself, he feared that it might lead to " disturbances (rebel- 
lion, schism, and sectarianism) ; for we Germans are a rude, mad, and 
crazy folk, with whom it is not easy to undertake any thing, unless strict 
necessity drive us to it." 

The lingering effects of his previous contests with the " enthu- 
siastic and rebellious spirits," i. e. the radicals and fanatics, had evi- 
dently diminished his earlier confidence of success and reliance on the 
genius of his nation ; so that he now wanted courage to complete the 
evangelical church in her more noble organism, presuming (which is 
doubtful) that he was not originally deficient in the gifts necessary for 
this work of organisation. It was doubtless also this same state of 
mind which aroused in Luther — as opposing the progress of radi- 
calism — a feeling of closer relationship to the old Christian elements 
of the Roman Catholic church, in consequence of which he brought 
forward, more prominently than heretofore, principles common to the 
Catholic and to the evangelical church. He says, for instance, in his 
treatise on Anabaptism (Wiedertaufe, Feb. 1528), in refutation of those 
who would not admit infant baptism because the pope did : " If so, they 
must deny also the holy Scriptures and preaching, for all this we have 
in common with the pope; we must also give up the Old Testament, 
that we may take nothing from the unbelieving Jews either. We 
admit that there is much Christian good in the papacy, nay all Chris- 
tian good, and hath from thence come to us : namely, we acknowledge 
that in the papacy is found the true holy Scripture, the true baptism, 
the true sacrament {Sacrament des Altars), the true key to the for- 
giveness of sins, true preaching of the Gospel, the true catechism. I 
say unto you, that true Christendom is under the pope, yea the quint- 
essence of Christendom, and many great pious saints. If Christendom 
be under the pope, then it must truly be the body and member of 
Christ; if it is his body, it must have the true spirit, Gospel, faith, 
baptism, sacrament, key, preaching, prayer, holy Scripture, and all that 
Christendom should have. We do not rant like the fanatics, and re- 



ISO A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

ject all connected with the pope; else we should also reject Christen- 
ed om, the temple of God, and all that is derived from Christ. On the 
contrary, we fight against and reject this, that the pope will not suffer 
Christendom to rest contented with such good, inherited from the apos- 
tles, but will join his devilish additions thereto ; and doth not use such 
good for the advantage of God's temple, but for its destruction, com- 
pelling men to value his commands and ordinances more than Christ's. 
Beloved, it behoveth us not so fiercely to rail against the pope, be- 
cause the saints of Christ are subject to him : a cautious and modest 
spirit is needed, leaving to him what belongs to God's temple, and to 
guard against his additions by which he destroys the temple of God." 

In these moderate expressions we no longer recognise the wrath of 
the Elias of 1520, but the sobriety of the reformer, matured and tried 
by the storms of time. And ought we not to look upon such expressions 
as a consolatory prophecy of a time to come, in which bitter strife, and 
the blind and persecuting spirit of party, between the living members 
of the divided Christian church, will be appeased, so that due honour 
may be given to the religion of the Redeemer by a more elevated union 
in the eternal principles of truth ? 



The attentive reader will be enabled to form a tolerably correct idea, 
from the above account of the personal character of the great reformer, 
without our describing his peculiarities more in detail. His spiritual 
development, his public career, his words and deeds, are the most de- 
cided and indelible traits in the portraiture of Luther's character. We 
confine ourselves, therefore, in our remaining observations, to supple- 
mentary suggestions, for the purpose of giving the reader a more 
complete impression of his character in one or two distinct aspects. 

We review with astonishment and admiration the range of his in- 
defatigable activity, the extraordinary degree of his influence as teacher, 
priest, and head of his church. 

It is but seldom that a man becomes, in so comprehensive and 
sublime a sense as Luther, the teacher of his nation. By means of a 
translation unequalled in its kind, and an oral and written exposition 
full of intelligence and power, breathing the noblest and most profound 
nationality, he brought the book most essential to the religious culture 
of man nearer to the understanding and the heart of his nation ; the 



OF THE KEFORMATION IX GERMANY. 



181 






meanest of the people were thus enabled to draw the richest nourish- 
ment for heart and mind directly from the ancient written sources of 
our religion. The merit of this service alone places him among the 
greatest benefactors of his race. And how creative and heartfelt his 
eloquence, remarkable both for childlike purity and manly courage ! If 
it is true that the spiritual individuality of man is revealed in his style, 
what a brilliant light do Luther's writings shed upon him ! One of the 
greatest judges of the German language speaks of him thus: "Luther's 
language must be considered, both on account of its noble and almost 
miraculous purity and its great impressiveness, as the germ and founda- 
tion of modern high-German diction, but slightly departed from even 
in our day, and then, in most cases, to the loss of its expressive power. 
The modern high German {neu hochdeutscli) may, in fact, be termed the 
dialect of Protestantism ; and the spirit of freedom which it breathes 
has long since, unknown to themselves, captivated the writers and poets 

of the Catholic faith We are indebted to Luther more than to 

any one, for reviving and fostering the body and spirit of our language, 
and even for the beauties of modern German poetry." 

And we find the same man whom we admire as the translator, 
expounder, and preacher of God's Word, giving the tone as the spiritual 
poet of the Reformation, and by his hymns becoming the originator of 
that beautiful blossom of German Protestantism, psalmody. It is im- 
possible to speak of his merit with reference to German psalmody with- 
out making mention of his exquisite hymn of triumph, which he most 
likely composed in the year of the protestation at Spires (1529). 
Wherever an attempt is made to represent and to appreciate Luther, 
this noble poem, in which his heroic spirit unintentionally shines forth 
in inimitable and ideal grandeur, must find a place. 



Hufyeu'S fegmn. 



Sin fcftc SBui-a tft timer ©ott, 
Sin fiute 2Bcl)i' unb SEBaffcn; 
Si- I)itft un§ feet au§ aflcu Dlotty, 
2>te unS jeft tjat (jetveffen. 
CDcc attc 05;'e Seinb 
3Kit Sinft ci'§ jc|t metnt, 
©cojj S0?acl)t unb met Sift 
©cin Qiaufam JKuftung iftj 
9Cuf SiVn ift nitf;t fcin'S ©tcidjen. 



Our God is a strong tower, 

A sure defence and weapon ; 
He aids in every hour, 

Whate'er distress may happen. 
The old and evil foe 
Striveth to bring us low, 

Great in his craft and might, 
Full armed for the fight; 
On earth none can him liken. 



■ 



t S (X 



<VT*^$iA. 4tst£,* 



182 



A SKETCH OP THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



Sttit uitfcet Sfladjt nid>ta flcttjan, 
2Ctu fmt aac oatb Dulovcn; 
£3 ftceit't flit' un8 bev rcd)te SBtonn, 
SBen ©ott fctbft Ijat crtpcen. 
gcagfl bit tucr tec (ft? 
<Sc OciOt 3cfu8 Crjctft, 
Sec $erae 3c&aotf), 
Unb ift fetn anbece ©ott; 
£a$ $clb mull ci: bcfyaltcn. 

Unb luenn tie SEBctt »ott Xcufct iwciu, 
Unb iuotlfn un§ sac i?ecfd^Iingcn f 

©o fiiud)tcn toic un§ nidjt fo fcfyu; 
<£§ mu|} une bod; geltngcn. 
£cu gucfte bieftt SBctt, 
2Btc fau'c ei* fid) ftcUt, 
%l)at cu im§ tod) ntd;t§, 
£>a§ mad)t, ec ift gmdjt't, 
Sin SBocticin fann itjn fallen. 

£>a§ SSBoct fie follcn laffen ftafyn, 
Unb fcin'n Sanf bajn Ijaocn; 
St: ift Oct unS luofyt auf tern ^tan, 
£D?it fcincm ©etft unb ©aben. 
•Tieljtncn fie un§ ben £cifc, 
@ut, gtyr, ftinbunb £Bcio, 
£a)j fasten bal)in ! 
©ie fya&en'S fcin ©ennnn; 
SaS Dveicf; mujl unS bod) btctOcn. 



Our feeble might achieveth nought, 

"We soon are lost and undone; 
By Him alone the work is wrought 
Whom God himself hath chosen. 
Dost thou ask the name ? 
Christ Jesus is the same, 
The Lord of Sabaoth: 
There is no other God; 
'Tis He the field hath taken. 

And were the world of devils full, 

All threatening to devour us, 
We fear not; true and dutiful, 
They cannot overpower us. 
Prince of this world in vain 
Round us his darts may rain, 
He no harm can do; 
His arts must perish too ; 
A little word can slay him. 

That Word of his shall sure remain, 

And still no thanks be theirs ; 
He's with us on the battle-plain, 

His spirit and his gifts are ours. 
Perish our poor estate, 
Wife — children— by their hate, 
On them be the sin; 
Nought from us can they win, 
His kingdom must be ours ! 



We have styled him above the teacher of his nation; and this name is 
also singularly applicable to his unwearied efforts in word and deed for 
the religious and scientific culture of the young; his Little and Great 
Catechism became the guide of millions to the knowledge of the princi- 
ples of Christianity. He readily seized every opportunity of appealing 
to the hearts and consciences of the nation for the foundation of new, 
and the maintaining and extending of existing schools. Thus in his 
"Address to the Burgomasters and Councillors of all German Cities 
to establish and uphold Christian Schools" (1524), and in the sermon 
" On the Duty of Sending Children to School" (1530), he says : " If we 
wish to give the devil a blow and to hit him very hard, we must do it 
through the young people brought up in the knowledge of God to 

spread abroad his word One true Christian is better, and can do 

more good, than all men on earth can do harm. And for what other 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 183 

reason do we old people live, but to minister to and bring up the young? 
God hath intrusted them to us, and will call us to a strict account 
concerning them. Children are born daily, and grow up among us, and 
there is, alas, no one who takes their part and directs them ; we let 
things take their own course. The monasteries and foundations ought 
to do it ; but these are they of whom Christ says : ' Woe unto the 
world because of offences!' .... Therefore it behoveth the council 
and the authorities to bestow the greatest care and attention upon the 
young : for it is the chief prosperity, glory, and power of a city, to 
possess many learned, sensible, honourable, well-educated citizens, who 
may afterwards be able to gather wealth and make good use of it. 

"And let us not forget that we shall not be able to preserve the 
Gospel without the (dead) languages. Languages are the scabbard of 
the sword of the Spirit ; they are the caskets in which we bear this 
treasure. For as the Gospel hath come alone through the Holy Ghost 
and still cometh, yet it came through the medium of the languages, 
and must be retained thereby. Soon after the apostolic age, when the 
languages ceased, the Gospel, faith, and Christianity fell away more 
and more, until they wholly vanished under the popes. Now, when 
languages have revived, they bring such light with them, that all the 
world must admit we have the Gospel as pure and entire as the apos- 
tles, and, indeed, in greater purity than in the days of Jerome and 
Augustine. .... For the fathers themselves are often at fault ; and 

because they were ignorant of the languages, they seldom agree 

St. Bernard was a man of so powerful a mind, that I can almost place 
him above all other teachers ; but behold how often he trifles with the 
Scriptures (spiritually) and misinterprets them ! Since it behoveth 
Christians to be skilled in the holy Scriptures, their special and only 
book, it is a sin and shame not to know the word of our God, and a 
still greater sin and shame not to learn the languages; since God hath 
given us both people and books, and desire th his book to be open to 

all Let us not be confounded if a few boast of the spirit, and 

disparage the Scripture Spirit here or spirit there ! I have also 

been in the spirit, and have also seen spirits. But this I know well, 
how little the spirit doth all alone. I should have been far enough 
astray, had not the languages helped me, and made me sure and safe 
respecting the Scriptures. I might have been, indeed, pious, and 
preached in quiet, but must have let the pope and the sophists, and the 



! 

184 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 



whole rabble of Antichrist, remain what they were. The Scriptures 
and the languages make the world too hot to hold the devil. 

" And even if there were no soul, no heaven or hell, and schools and 
languages were not wanted for the knowledge of God and of the Scrip- 
tures, this would be still a sufficient reason for establishing schools for 
boys and girls in every place, that the world needs clever men and 
women for its temporal well-being. As far as I am concerned (1524), 
if I had any children, I would have them study not only languages and 
histories (GescJiichten), but also music and the whole science of mathe- 
matics. How much do I now regret that I have not read more poets 
and histories, and instead have been compelled to read that devil's filth, 
the philosophers and sophists, with great toil, expense, and damage ! I 
have since had enough to do to get rid of it. And if I were obliged to 
resign my post as preacher (1530), I should prefer no office before that 
of schoolmaster or teacher of boys ; for I know that after preaching, this 
work is the most useful and the greatest and best. Beloved, we must 
regard it as the greatest virtue on earth, to educate other people's chil- 
dren, which few do by their own." 

Luther was not only the teacher of his nation, but he had at the 
same time the true nature of a priest ; for he loved his people with holy 
earnestness, and he often wrestled near unto death to obtain an assur- 
ance of the validity of his vocation. Already inclined to the melancholy 
which is common in thoughtful and poetic natures, by education and 
bodily and mental peculiarities, his position exposed him to inward 
and outward conflicts, to frequent wrestling with the most oppressive 
states of mind, which at times rose to the highest degree of bodily 
and mental anguish. We have an account of one of these attacks 
of spiritual distress, from the pen of his friends Bugenhagen and 
Justus Jonas, as recent as 1527 : " On Saturday, the 9th of July, our 
beloved father, Martin Luther, had one of those dreadful attacks, the 
like of which we read of in the Psalms. He has indeed often before 
experienced such conflicts, but never such a violent one as this ; as he 
admitted on the following day, that it had been much more severe and 
dangerous than the bodily weakness which seized him on the evening of 
the same day. As soon as this spiritual temptation was over, the pious 
Job, fearing that if the hand of God should fall upon him again so 
severely, he would not be able to endure it, sent his servant Wolf, .de- 
siring me to come to him with all speed. When we went up to him, and 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 185 



retired into a private place, he commended himself and all he had with 
great earnestness to God, began to confess and acknowledge his sins; and 
the master sought consolation from his disciple out of God's Word, 
i. e. absolution and remission of sins, and besought me to pray for him 
diligently. He further requested that I would allow him to receive the 
holy sacrament of the body and blood of Christ on the following Sun- 
day, for he hoped to preach on that day. . . . When he had confessed 
and spoken of the spiritual assault he had borne that morning, with such 
fear and trembling that he could scarcely describe it, he continued, 
' Many think, because I sometimes appear cheerful in my walk and con- 
versation, that my path is strewn with roses ; but God knoweth how it 
is with me in regard to life. I have often intended, for the sake of the 
world, to appear (that is to say, act) somewhat more serious and holy ; 
but God hath not given me the power to do so. The world can find — 
I thank God for it — no vice in me, nevertheless it taketh offence at me.' 
On the evening of the same day, when a violent fit of illness followed 
the mental anguish of the morning, he made a formal confession, in the 
presence of his friends Bugenhagen and Jonas, to the effect, that the 
oppression of spirit which had overtaken him that morning did no ways 
arise from any doubt of the truth of his doctrine : " As the world 
taketh delight in lying, many will say that I recanted my doctrine at the 
last. I therefore earnestly beseech you to witness my confession of faith. 
I say with a good conscience, that I have taught God's Word faithfully 
as he hath commanded, and to which I was drawn and compelled without 
any will of my own. Yea, I have truly and savingly taught faith, love, 
the cross, the sacraments, and other articles of Christian doctrine. Many 
accuse me of being too severe and violent in writing against the papists 
and rebels {Rotten geister). Yes, I have indeed hit my enemies hard, 
but I have never repented of it ; whether violent or moderate, I have 
never sought to injure any one, still less ruin his soul, but have rather 
sought the advantage and salvation of my foes." 

One of the principal sources of the discontent and dejection which 
overpowered him in the later years of his life, more and more frequently, 
is certainly to be sought in the fact, that the Reformation had not pro- 
duced all the moral fruit he expected from it. 

It was a grievous disappointment, which kept festering like an open 
wound through all the later years of his life, that all those whom he 
had liberated from the Romish yoke, by proclaiming the liberty of the 



186 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

Gospel, had not proved themselves worthy of that liberation by the 
purity of their conversation and conduct, and by deeds of love ; that 
many, on the contrary, had dishonoured the liberty obtained at so great 
a sacrifice, by hardened indifference and the coarsest licentiousness. 
This experience drew from him the bitterest expressions, a few of which 
only we will quote. "Sodom and Gomorrah ," he wrote in 1580, "were 
never one-tenth part so wicked as Germany is now, for they had not 
God's Word and preaching. We, on the contrary, have it in vain ; and 
we act as if we wished that God and his Word, that decency and hon- 
our, should perish. If such things are to be done in German lands, woe 
is me that I was born in Germany, or ever learnt, spoke, and wrote 
German. And if I could do it according to my conscience, I would 
rather advise and assist to bring back the rule of the pope and all his 
enormities. Formerly all purses were open, and there were no bounds 
to giving ; but now, when we want to establish or maintain proper 
schools and churches, all your purses have padlocks. I pray God for a 
happy death, that I may not see all the misery that must come upon 
Germany. For I hold, that if ten Moses were to arise and intercede for 
us, they could not prevail ; I myself feel also, when I wish to pray for 
my dear Germany, that my prayer recoils on me, and will not ascend as 
it is wont to do when I pray for other things." At a later period he 
states in his Table-talk : " It is a strange and very grievous thing, that 
the world hath become worse and W T orse since the revival of the true 
doctrine of the Gospel, by the special grace and revelation of God. 
Every one perverts Christian liberty into carnal wantonness ; therefore 
is the reign of the devil and the pope, as far as external rule is concerned, 
the best for the world, for with such only will it be ruled with severe 
laws and justice, and with superstition. The doctrine of the grace of 
God maketh it worse. Alas, the world remaineth the world ! If our 
Lord Christ hath not been able to amend it, neither shall we, and must 
therefore let it go its own gate to the devil." 

And yet this man, whom we have accompanied through successive 
and most severe mental sufferings, caused by conflicts, doubts, and fears, 
could at other times effectually strengthen timorous souls ; and with the 
deeply impressive confidence of the hero, and the touching simplicity of 
a child, uphold the faith in the sanctity and indestructible nature of his 
cause, even when all around him became discouraged. He wrote, during 
the sitting of the diet at Augsburg, to his friend the Chancellor Bruck, 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



187 



from the castle of Coburg (where he intended to erect three tabernacles 
by his works — one for the Psalter, one for the Prophets, and one for 
Esop) : "I have recently seen two strange things : the first, when I looked 
from my window, I saw the stars and the beautiful dome of God, and 
saw no pillars on which the builder had placed the arch ; yet the 
heavens fell not, and the arch still standeth. Now there are some who 
.seek for such pillars, who would like to touch and seize them ; but be- 
cause they cannot do that, they flutter and tremble, as if the heaven would 
certainly fall ; if they could grasp the pillars, the heaven would stand 
firm. The second strange thing : I saw great heavy clouds sweep over 
us in such masses that they could be compared to a great sea ; yet I saw 
no support on which they could rest or find footing ; still they fell not 
upon us, but greeted us with a gloomy aspect, and sped on. When they 
had passed, the rainbow shone forth, — that was but a weak support, a 
mere reflection or shade. Nevertheless it proved in reality that it bore 
the vapoury burden and protected us." 

As through the power of his faith, so also by the tenderness and 
magnanimity of his love did he exhibit the spirit of a true evangelical 
priest, which most beautifully proves its vocation by devoting itself to 
the service of others. In this sense especially — as a compassionate feel- 
ing for the distress of others, as a ministry ready for every act of sacrifice, 
in imitation of Him who gave himself a sacrifice for us — did he practise 
love in noble self-denial, esteeming it the highest gem of spiritual Chris- 
tianity. How deeply was he grieved to find the active proofs of the 
divine spirit so rare among those who nevertheless called themselves 
Christians : " That is indeed true," he exclaims (1522) to his people at 
Wittenberg ; "ye have the true Gospel and the pure Word of God, yet 

no one giveth his goods. to the poor Ye are willing to receive all 

the good gifts of God in the sacrament, but are unwilling to pour them 
forth again in love. No one will stretch forth his hand to another ; no 
one heartily taketh the part of another ; but every one thinketh only of 
himself, what is of advantage to him, and seeketh his own. No one 
looketh to the poor, to help them. Oh, pitiable case ! . . . . And if 
ye be not willing to love one another, God will send a great plague 
upon you ; for he will not suffer his Word to be revealed and preached 
in •vain.'''' 

Do we not find in these impressive words of the head of German Pro- 
testantism those highest requirements of Christianity already indicated, 



188 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

which we are beginning in our days to comprise under the expression 
spiritual mission (innere Mission)? And have we not also here expressed, 
in the simplest words, that moving truth which, though often and long 
despised, makes itself suddenly heard and felt at particular times in over- 
whelming judgments (as, for instance, in the convulsions of the last few 
years), — that truth, that whenever we set at naught the laws of love for 
any length of time, the laws of wrath will inevitably overtake us sooner or 
later ; because the entire moral constitution of the world has been founded 
by its sacred Author on righteousness and love; and all presumptuous at- 
tempts to disarrange it must finally lead, as insane opposition to the divine 
will, to self-annihilation ? 

Luther himself practised in the highest degree that quality in which 
he found others so frequently deficient : his affecting readiness to give 
all he had, and rather deny himself than see others want, is one of the 
most amiable features in his character, and placed him on a par with the 
noblest Christians of later times, such as Spener, Frank, and Lavater. 
Slight indeed was the charm of worldly possession and enjoyment for his 
great mind. Well might he use the sublime expressions with regard to 
himself: " If my own heart did ?wt drive me to work for the sake of the 
Man who died for me, the world could not offer me money enough for 
writing a book, or interpreting any portion of the Bible. The world shall 
not reward my ivork ; the world is too mean and poor to do it" And he 
who thought so little of making a provision for himself, that he gave 
every thing to the needy, even the money his wife received from her god- 
mother, habitually refused the rich presents of his prince, and was never 
weary of begging for others, could reconcile himself gladly to the proba- 
bility of being obliged to earn his bread by the work of his hands, and on 
that account began to practise the crafts of the turner and gardener. 

His importance as preacher and priest was intimately connected with 
the position he occupied — in fact, if not in name — as head of the church 
(Kirchenfiirst). A glance at his correspondence will best show his ex- 
traordinary activity as the adviser of numerous individuals, communities, 
and countries ; nothing important, more particularly if it referred to 
the schools or the church, was for a long course of years undertaken 
without his counsel. The Electors John and John-Frederick, with many 
distinguished men of their immediate connexion, highly respected Lu- 
ther's authority in all matters of conscience ; while he, on his side, availed 
himself principally of their help in establishing the new order of things. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 189 



The important position he assigned to the ruling princes in the new 
church, as well as to the authorities generally (that is, in modern phrase, 
to the state), had a reflective political influence beyond all calcula- 
tion on succeeding centuries : the tendency to the development of ab- 
solute sovereign power was greatly increased by the peculiar genius 
of Luther's Protestantism. He insisted on the obedience of the Chris- 
tian subject even towards tyrannical and unjust rulers ; but should any 
disputes arise between a king and his parliament concerning established 
laws, he decided that another authority should interpose and arbitrate. 
He condemned, without reserve, all violent attempts on the part of sub- 
jects to right themselves. He terms insurrection the worst crime, and 
the murder of tyrants the watchword of anarchy : " Whenever the de- 
struction of tyrants is sanctioned, general license ensues, and soon reaches 
such a height, that those are branded as tyrants who are not tyrants, and 
are put to death just as the mob takes it into its head. If we are to 
suffer injustice, let it be rather by the hands of the authorities ; for the 
mob knows no moderation, and every single man amongst them is as bad 
as five tyrants." 

Although he lays so much emphasis on the inviolability of the su- 
preme power, yet innumerable passages in his works prove how meanly 
he thought of the majority of the princes of his time. He calls Duke 
George of Saxony a " fury, a miserable madman, a restless destructive 
tool of Satan." He once wrote to Spalatin with reference to King 
Christian of Denmark : " It may chance that God will admit some time 
or another your dainty game (Wildpret), that is to say, a king and 
queen, to heaven." The strongest expressions are found, as is well known, 
in his controversial writings against Henry VIII. of England, whom he 
styles " Henry, king not by God's grace. I care not whether King Hal 
or King Dick, devil, or hell itself made the book: whoever tells a lie 
is a liar; therefore I don't fear him (this lying king). Indeed, my young 
squire, say what you please, but you shall also hear what won't please 
you ; I will cure your itching for lies ! So much are your great lords 
accustomed to flattering and feigning, that they pretend it is all up with 
the Christian faith if we tell them the truth, and sprinkle salt on their 
nasty festering wounds. King Hal bears out the proverb, ' No fools 
like kings and princes.' If any king or prince imagines that Luther will 
humble himself before him, repent of his doctrine, and seek for pardon, 
he is grossly deceived, and indulges in a golden dream. . . . . As far 

A A 



190 



A SKETCH OF THE EISE AND PROGEESS 



as my doctrine is concerned, I deem no one great ; but I treat him as 
a bubble, or even less But where my person and life are con- 
cerned, I am ready to humble myself before any one, even before a child. 
Where my doctrine and ministry are concerned, let no one expect pa- 
tience or humility from me; least of all, your tyrants and persecutors of 
the Gospel." 

He did not regard the strong language he employed with reference to 
these princes as inconsistent with his doctrine of unconditional obedience. 
In fact, he only repudiated violent resistance to the authorities, and con- 
sidered moral resistance to all abuses of absolute power perfectly justi- 
fiable ; and, as Christian censor, fearlessly practised it, in the name of 
morality, and on the authority of the Word of God. For himself he 
claimed on this score the greatest latitude of pen and tongue. With 
reference to the internal government of the new church, he drew a clear 
distinction between freedom of faith and freedom of teaching : no one 
could be compelled to faith ; but no public teacher could be allowed 
to teach any doctrine differing from the fundamental articles of faith 
based on the Scriptures, or from the recognised doctrines of the church: 
" they are not to be tolerated, but punished as public blasphemers." 
Even he, therefore, could propose no better solution to this most diffi- 
cult of all problems in the constitution of state-churches. When two 
religious parties contended in the state, he gave to the civil authorities 
the power of deciding which of the two taught in accordance with the 
Scriptures ; — the first step towards the establishment of political, after 
the overthrow of Romish, popery ! 

The most painful moments which his position as spiritual adviser to 
the Protestant princes inflicted upon him, were occasioned, no doubt, by 
the notorious second marriage which the Landgrave Philip of Hesse con- 
tracted during the lifetime of his first wife. Never did he feel so much 
pain in giving counsel as when forced by this prince to advise with him 
on this occasion. It threw the more gentle Melanchthon upon a sick- 
bed, and brought him to the brink of the grave. We know not what 
Luther felt at that time ; how severity and gentleness, how repugnance to 
the act and indulgent consideration of the peculiarities of the case, con- 
tended within him. But it is certain that Calvin would have acted 
otherwise ; and also that Luther's character would stand higher if in 
this matter he had looked neither to the light nor left, but remained true 
to his moral feelings and principles, obeying Gcd rather than man. 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



191 



He was far better fitted, by his whole gifts and character, to be the 
pioneer and the hero of the decisive spiritual battles, than the leader and 
lawgiver, or the ruling and organising head, of German Protestantism. 
His virtues and his defects had sprung from the deepest inward and 
the most violent outward struggles. His world-wide influence lies 
in contest ; but in contest also we detect his vulnerable part. An 
irascible disposition such as his could scarcely ever, in cases of great 
excitement, express itself in words, without so yielding to the impulse 
of the moment as to overstep the line within which a sober and well- 
balanced mind would, in peaceable times, confine itself. Every reader 
will readily apply this observation to Luther's polemical writings, which 
seldom exhibit the moderation sought for in him by a purer judgment 
in a less disturbed period. It is true that the tone and manner of his 
time, and not unfrequently also the irritating and immoderate language 
of his antagonists, must necessarily excuse and extenuate much that 
now offends us in his language. Nevertheless, we cannot, without 
puerile and cowardly sophistry, deny the simple fact, that the real 
defect in his character is an immoderate violence and a natural spirit 
of defiance, carried to excess by opposition, frequently presenting un- 
bearable asperities to friend and foe. Both these peculiarities of his 
natural disposition were rather fostered than subdued by his education 
and earlier connexions ; at a later period, when his hitherto slumbering 
genius woke up to a sense of his vocation, and accomplished the re- 
ligious emancipation of his country, these more objectionable features 
of his character remained blended in a thousand ways with his greatest 
and noblest qualities. The Luther of history cannot be represented, in 
his character and influence, without this mixture of the impure and 
earthly with the pure and divine. Possibly the strength and the weak- 
ness, the lights and shadows of his nature, are inseparable ; yet the 
historical and moral judgment must not be fettered nor silenced by such 
considerations. Why should we hide the fact, that there occur passages 
in his polemical writings against Henry VIII. which inspire not only 
repugnance, but disgust ? Why conceal, that in his controversy with 
his Catholic opponents, as well as with Zwingle and others, he exceeded 
the limits which a liberal education and Christian feeling impose ? We 
would rather leave the question, ( Whether the unhallowed schism be- 
tween the Lutheran and Reformed churches — at one time near a friendly 
compromise (by means of the Wittenberg concordia, 1536) — is to be laid 



192 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

to the charge of Luther's violence and pertinacity ?" undiscussed and 
undecided, than nourish the controversial spirit on matters of faith 
which again rages so violently in our time. When will a more advanced 
stage of Christian knowledge and experience bring the unedifying wars 
of theologians to their merited end ? Luther is not indebted to the 
controversy concerning the sacrament, however great its importance, for 
his title as the Reformer of Germany. 



LUTHER S DOMESTIC LIFE AND FRIENDSHIPS. 

We experience an agreeable change when we regard Luther in his 
family and among his friends. We seem to pass from the close chamber 
into the open air of spring. From the Augustine cloister at Witten- 
berg, which had now become the residence of Luther and his family, 
sprang the noblest germ of social morality, and of the purest spirit of 
German domestic life. This cloister-home became the ideal type of 
numberless families of Protestant Germany, and especially of those 
numerous families of evangelical ministers (Priester) to whom German 
society is so largely indebted for morality and piety. The simple fact, 
that Luther, the former monk and Catholic priest, who as such had 
been excluded from the matrimonial tie by the twofold bonds of the 
hierarchical ordinances of Rome and the practice of centuries, ventured 
to become the founder of a family, was in itself most important. 

By this step he as decidedly opposed the Catholicism of the middle 
ages as by burning the papal bull. As long as celibacy was considered 
a high degree of holiness, and an indispensable condition of the priestly 
office, the religious and moral dignity of marriage and of domestic life 
was misunderstood and denied by an exaggerated spiritualism ; which, 
as an ecclesiastical ordinance, was as much opposed to the divine law in 
nature as in the Scriptures. It is true Luther wavered here and there, 
in single expressions, between the purely realistic and the higher and 
ideal conception of matrimony ; seeming at times to regard it only in 
the light of a law of nature, and again as the perfection of moral life on 
earth ; but both these views were in the end blended into one and a 
much higher point of view (in the divine harmony of nature and grace). 
At all events, Luther's act in this direction was much more important 
than his words ; for it proclaimed to Germany and Europe that the man 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 193 

at the head of the Reformation had discovered that Catholic monasticism 
and priesthood could not be reconciled to the moral and religious prin- 
ciples of primitive Christianity. Long previous to his own marriage he 
had maintained the nullity of monastic vows and the laws of clerical 
celibacy, from the authority of nature and of the Gospel ; for years past 
evangelical clergymen had married ; but it was very different when the 
spiritual head of the Reformation, towards whom the eyes of all Europe 
were directed, set the seal to this primitive Christian idea by his example. 
He had steadily resisted several earlier attempts to persuade him to this 
step ; at length he suddenly resolved on taking it, at a time (June 1525) 
when it was least expected. Immediately after the termination of the 
peasants' war, the consequences of which still seriously threatened the 
cause of the Reformation, he brought home his wife, Catherine von 
Bora, formerly a nun. A short time before, he had pressingly urged 
the Elector- Archbishop of Mayence to get married : "I do not under- 
stand how a man can remain without a wife, and not incur the wrath 
and displeasure of God ; and fearful would it be for him to be found 
without a wife in the hour of death. For what answer will he give 
when God asks him : ' I made thee a man, not to be alone, but to 
take a wife; where is thy wife V ' : He then made the offer: "If my 
marriage would strengthen your grace's purpose, I would willingly set 
your grace the example." 

The joys and sorrows of his married state of one-and-twenty years 
have been frequently described in full. Our object, therefore (limited 
to a vivid and comprehensive sketch of this distinguished man), will be 
attained if we give a brief notice of him, in his own words, as a son, a 
husband, and a father. 

When he believed himself in great danger during the illness in 1527, 
to which we have alluded, he said to his wife : " My very dearest Kate, 
I pray thee, if our good God take me to him this time, be resigned to 
his merciful will. Thou art my wedded wife ; thou must be quite con- 
vinced of that, and have no doubt of it, let the blind, ungodly world 
say what it will. Do thou act according to God's Word, and hold fast by 
it, and thou shalt have a certain constant support against the devil and 
all his slanderous tongues." Afterwards he asked for his child : " Where 
is my very dearest Hanschen ?" When it was brought to him, and it 
smiled upon its father, he said : " Oh, poor dear child ! Well, I commend 
my most dearly-beloved Kate, and thee, poor orphan, to my faithful 



194 A SKETCH OF THE KISE AND PROGRESS 

righteous God. Ye have nothing ; but God, who is a father of orphans 
and the judge of widows, will assuredly feed and take care of you." 
His wife, although much alarmed at these words, yet composed herself 
quickly, and said: "My dearest doctor, if it be God's will, I shall be 
better pleased to know you are with him than with me ; but it doth not 
concern only me and my child, but many pious Christian people who yet 
have need of you. Do not grieve about me, my most beloved master; I 
commend you to his divine will, and trust to God that he will graciously 
preserve you." 

His love for his parents is expressed most affectingly in two incom- 
parable letters, which, although well known, may not here be omitted : 

" To my dear father, Hans Luther, citizen of Mansfeld in the valley, 
grace and peace in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Amen. 

" Dear father, — My brother Jacob hath written to me that you are 
dangerously ill. As the air is unhealthy, and danger is every where, 
also on account of these evil times, I am anxious about you. For 
although God hath granted and preserved to you hitherto a strong and 
firm body, yet your age now causes me anxious thoughts. Still, none of 
us are secure of our life at any hour, nor ought to be; for which reason 
I would have wished exceeding much to go to you in the body ; but 
my friends have advised and persuaded me against it ; and I think my- 
self that I ought not to incur the danger and tempt Providence, — for 
you know how the lords and peasants favour me ! 

" But it would be a great joy to me, if you would consent to come 
hither with my mother; which my Kate also, and all of us, request 
with tears. I hope we shall take good care of you. Therefore I have 
sent Cyriacus to you, to ascertain whether your weakness will allow of 
it. For whichever the divine will may ordain concerning you, in this 
life or the next, I would most readily (as is my right) be about you in 
the body, and prove myself grateful to God and you, with filial love 
and duty, according to the fourth commandment. 

" In the meantime I pray with my whole heart to that Father who 
hath created and given you to me as a father, to strengthen you from 
his boundless goodness, and enlighten and keep you with his spirit, 
that you may acknowledge with joy and thanks the blessed doctrine of 
his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to which you are called and have come, 
from the past fearful darkness and error ; and I hope that his mercy, 
which hath granted you such knowledge, and by it hath begun his work 



OE THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 195 



in you, may preserve and continue it to the end, in the life to come, and 
in the happy future of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 

" For He hath already sealed such doctrine and faith in you, and 
confirmed it by marks ; that is to say, you have suffered much abuse, 
disgrace, contempt, mockery, despite, hatred, enmity, and danger, for 
his name's sake, like the rest of us. (Gal. vi. 17.) But these are the 
real marks, in which we must be foreknown ; and like our Lord Christ, 
as St. Paul saith (Rom. viii. 29), that we may also be like unto his 
future glory. 

" Then keep your heart fresh and comforted in your weakness ; for 
we have in a future life a sure and true helper with God, namely, Jesus 
Christ, who hath overcome death and sin for us, and sitteth there 
now looking for us with all the angels, and waiteth the moment of our 
departure home ; so that we need not be anxious, nor fear to sink and 
perish at last. His power over death and sin is too great for them to 
hurt us ; so faithful and righteous is he, that he will not fail us, provided 
we put our trust in him. 

" For He hath spoken, promised, and affirmed it ; He will not and 
cannot lie nor deceive — have no doubt on that head. 'Ask,' He saith, 
e and it shall be given unto you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and 
it shall be opened unto you' (Matt. vii. 7) ; and elsewhere (Acts ii. 21), 
1 whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' And 
all the Psalms are full of comforting promise, the ninety-first Psalm 
especially, which is good to read for all sick people. 

" I have said this unto you in writing, being full of anxiety on ac- 
count of your illness (because we know not the hour), that I may be a 
partaker of your faith, conflict, consolation, and thanks to God for his 
holy Word, which He hath in this our time granted us in so bountiful 
and gracious a way, for the strengthening of our soul. 

." But if it be His will that you shall be detained yet longer in this 
life, and share our sufferings in this sorrowful and sinful vale of tears, 
and witness much suffering, or bear your part, with all other Christians, 
in enduring and overcoming it, He will grant you grace to accept it all 
willingly and obediently. This life is nothing but a real vale of sorrow, 
in which we see and experience the more sin, wickedness, torment, and 
wretchedness, the longer we live. Neither will it cease nor lessen until 
we are laid in the ground : then indeed it must cease, and leave us to 
sleep in the peace of Christ, until he cometh and again awaketh us in 



196 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

*. 
blessedness. Amen. May he, our Lord and Saviour, be with you 

and by you, that we may (and I pray God it may be here or there) meet 

again in joy. For our faith is sure, and we do not doubt but we shall 

meet again shortly in Christ ; since the departure from this life is of 

much less account before God than if I left Mansfeld and you to come 

hither, or you left me and Wittenberg to go to Mansfeld. Of this be 

assured, we shall but fall asleep, and all will be changed. 

" Although I hope that your pastors and preachers faithfully and 
abundantly minister unto you in this matter, so that you scarce need 
my prattling, yet I could not forbear trying to make up in this way for 
my absence from you in the body, for which, God knoweth, I grieve 
heartily. 

" My Kate, little Hans and Lena, and aunt Lena, and the whole 
household, greet you, and faithfully pray for you. I send greetings to 
my dear mother and all friends. The mercy and power of God be with 
you now and for ever ! Amen. 

" Your loving son, 

Martin Luther. 

" At Wittenberg, February 15, 1530." 

In the following year, he wrote, under similar circumstances, to his 
mother (May 20, 1531): 

il Grace and peace in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour : Amen. 

" My dearest mother, — I have received the news of your illness from 
my brother Jacob ; and I am much grieved for it, particularly as T cannot 
be with you in the body, as I fain would. Still I appear bodily before 
you with this writing ; and, with all our family, will not be absent from 
you in the spirit. 

" Although I hope that, without me, your heart hath long since been 
well disciplined, and that you well understand (thank God for it !) his 
comfortable Word, and are provided with preachers and friends to com- 
fort you, — yet will I do my part also, and, according to my duty, acknow- 
ledge you my mother, and myself your child, — for such the God and 
Creator of both hath made us, and assigned us duties towards each other, 
— that I also may increase the number of your comforters. 

" Firstly, dear mother, you now know, by God's grace, that your 
illness is his fatherly and merciful rod, and a very gentle rod compared 
with those which he applieth to the ungodly, nay sometimes even to his 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 197 

own beloved children, of which one is beheaded, another burnt, a third 
drowned ; so that all of us may say, ' For thy sake we are killed all the 
day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter' (Psalm xliv. 23 ; 
Rom. viii. 36). Therefore should your illness neither grieve nor trouble 
you ; but be accepted with thanks, as sent by his mercy ; seeing that it 
is but a slight suffering, even though it should end in death or dying, as 
compared with the sufferings of his own beloved Son, our Lord Jesus 
Christ, which he hath not suffered on his own account, as we suffer, but 
hath suffered for us and our sins. 

" Secondly, you also know, my dear mother, the great article and 
ground of your salvation, to which you are to look for comfort in this 
as in all other troubles — namely, the corner-stone, Jesus Christ (Isaiah 
xxviii. 16; Rom. ix. 33 ; 1 Peter ii. 6), who will not waver nor desert 
us, and will not let us sink or be destroyed. For he is the Saviour, and 
is called the Saviour of all poor sinners (1 Tim. i. 15), and of all those 
who are in trouble and on the point of death, if they rely on him and 
call upon his name. 

" He saith : ' Be comforted ; I have overcome the world.' If He hath 
overcome the world, Fie hath most assuredly overcome also the prince of 
this world, with all his might. And what else is his might but death, 
by which he hath made us subject unto him, and holds us captive for our 
sins' sake ? But now death and sin are overcome, we may, in joy and 
comfort, listen to the cheering word : ( Be comforted ; I have overcome 
the world.' 

" And we ought not to doubt that it is certainly true ; and not only 
so, but we are further commanded to receive such consolation with joy 
and thanksgiving. And those who will not be comforted by this word 
do injustice and the greatest dishonour to the blessed Comforter, as if it 
were not true that He bids us be of good cheer, or as if it were not true 
that He hath overcome the world ; so that we give our vanquished foes, 
the devil, sin, and death, strength to become tyrants, in opposition to our 
beloved Saviour ; — from which God preserve us ! 

" Therefore we may rejoice in all security and confidence; and if any 
thought of sin or death affright us, we must raise our hearts and say : 
* See, my soul, what dost thou? Dear death, dear sin, livest thou and 
affrightest me ? Knowest thou not that thou art overcome ? and that 
thou, death, art even dead ? Knowest thou not One who saith of thee, 
1 1 have overcome the world ?' It is not fit for me to hear and give 

B B 



198 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

heed to thy threats, but to the consoling words of my Saviour : ' Be 
of good cheer, be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.' He 
is the conqueror, the true hero, who giveth and imputeth his victory 
to me in these words : 'Be of good cheer.' To Him I cleave ; on his 
word and comforting I rely : whithersoever I go, He will not deceive 
me, Thou wouldst gladly deceive me by thy false terrors, and separate 
me from this Conqueror and Saviour by thy lying inventions : and they 
are lying inventions, as completely as it is a truth that He hath overcome 
thee, and hath commanded us to be of good cheer.' 

" To such knowledge, I say, hath God called you in his mercy ; for 
this ye have his seal and writing, — that is to say, the Gospel, baptism, 
and the sacrament, all which ye hear preached, so that ye will have no 
further trouble nor danger. Only be of good cheer, and return thanks 
with joy for such exceeding grace, for He who hath commenced it in 
you will bring it graciously to an end. For we cannot help ourselves 
in these matters ; we cannot prevail with our works against sin, death, 
and the devil ; therefore another standeth in our place, who hath greater 
strength, and giveth us the victory, and commandeth us to accept it 
without doubt, and saith : f Be of good cheer ; I have overcome the 
world :' and again : ( I' live, and ye also shall live, and your joy no man 
taketh from you' (John xvi. 22 ; xiv. 19). 

" The Father and God of all comfort grant you, through his holy 
Word and Spirit, a firm, joyous, and thankful faith, that ye may hap- 
pily overcome this and all other trouble, and that ye may taste and 
experience the truth of his words : l Be of good cheer ; I have overcome 
the world.' And I herewith commend you, body and soul, to his mercy. 
Amen. All your children pray for you, and also my Kate; some of 
them are crying, others eating away, and saying : ' Grandmother is very 

ill.' God's mercy be with us all ! Amen. 

Your loving son, 

Martin Luther." 

"We conclude these selections from Luther's letters with that charm- 
ing composition which he addressed from Coburg to his little son Hans, 
in the simple poetry adapted to children (1530). 

" Grace and peace in Christ ! My dear little son, — I am glad to find 
that thou learnest well and prayest diligently. Do this, my son, and con- 
tinue it : when I return home, I will bring thee a fine fairing. 



OF THE REFORM ATION IN GERMANY. 199 



" I know a beautiful cheerful garden, in which many children walk 
about. They have golden coats on, and gather beautiful apples under 
the trees, and pears, and cherries, and plums; they sing and jump 
about, and are merry : they have also fine little horses with golden 
bridles and silver saddles. And I asked the man whose garden it is : 
1 Whose children are they V He replied : ' These are the children who 
like to pray and learn, and are pious.' Then I said : ' My good man, 
I have a son ; his name is Hans Luther : may he not also come to this 
garden, to eat such nice apples and pears, and ride such fine little 
horses, and play with these children V And the man said : ' If he likes 
to pray and learn, and is pious, he shall come to this garden with Lippus 
and Just ; and when they have all come together, they shall have pipes 
and cymbals, lutes, and other musical instruments, and dance, and shoot 
with little cross-bows.' 

" And he showed me a fine meadow in the garden prepared for 
dancing ; there hung nothing but golden pipes, cymbals, and beautiful 
silver cross-bows. But it was yet early, and the children had not dined. 
Therefore I could not wait for the dancing, and said to the man : ' My 
good master, I will quickly go and write all this to my dear little son 
Hans, o that he may pray diligently, learn well, and be pious, that he 
may also be admitted to this garden ; but he hath an Aunt Lena, whom 
he must bring with him.' The man answered : 'So be it; go and write 
this to him.' 

" Therefore, my dear little son Hans, learn and pray with all confi- 
dence, and tell all this to Lippus and Just, that they also may learn and 
pray ; and ye will all meet in this beautiful garden. Herewith I com- 
mend thee to Almighty God. Give greetings to Aunt Lena, and also a 
kiss from me. Anno 1530. 

Thy loving father, 

Martin Luther." 

A man who, like Luther, united surpassing strength of character and 
intellect to deep expansive feeling and elevation of soul, was calculated to 
exercise an extraordinary power of attraction over all within his reach. 
We find, accordingly, a great number of revering friends unreservedly 
devoted to him, and who remained faithful to him to the end. The 
name of Philip Melanchthon occurs before all others to the mind, when 
Luther's friends are spoken of. The close connexion between these two . 



200 A SKETCH OF THE KISE AND PROGRESS 

men for the attainment of one great object, and the mutual balancing 
of the excellences of each, has indeed become almost proverbial in 
Germany. Power and gentleness, courage and discretion, original 
thought and education, biblical and classical learning, formed in these 
two friends a brotherly union, which bore the happiest fruits, not only 
for the Reformation, but for the whole religious and scientific culture 
of evangelical Germany. In later years this relation between them did 
not, unfortunately, remain as pure as at an earlier period, when their 
intimate union was one of the most gratifying facts known in history. 
The harsh, domineering, and defiant features which were unmistakable 
in Luther's character, and which became more and more pointedly pro- 
minent in consequence of the divisions among the Protestant party, 
proved occasionally an insupportable burden to Melanchthon, — all the 
more insupportable because he bore it in silence. His whole nature, 
education, and convictions guided him with increasing decision to a 
mild, plastic, and comprehensive conception on precisely those contro- 
verted points respecting which Luther gradually settled into an abrupt 
and exclusive dogmatism. Melanchthon laments this most bitterly soon 
after Luther's death, in a confidential letter, which is calculated to give 
the most painful impressions with regard to both the great men. But 
in the memory of the German nation, only the grand, fruitful, and 
brilliant aspect of this friendship continues to live unclouded ; while 
the humiliating shadows, the penalty paid by human weakness, are un- 
noticed except by truth-loving historians and malicious opponents of 
the reformers. 

It is an inexpressibly soothing and affecting circumstance in Luther's 
career, that he, the man of battle, of the most violent and important 
conflicts, left this earthly scene while engaged in a work of love and 
peace. Throughout life he had fought for the most sacred spiritual 
possession of man : for the sake of peace to his more immediate country, 
he did not disdain to employ his last remaining strength in the settle- 
ment of a poor quarrel relating to worldly possessions. 

The reformer, whom Germany justly places in the van of her intel- 
lectual heroes, died (Feb. 18, 1546) at Eisleben, the city in which he 
first saw the light sixty-three years before. Two of the most important 
men of modern Germany, who in the last century shared the intellectual 
inheritance of Luther divided into opposite sections, coincide uninten- 
tionally in overflowing admiration of his greatness. "I admire Luther 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 201 

to such a degree," writes Lessing, " that I am almost pleased to discover 
deficiencies in him ; for I might else have been in danger of deifying 
him. The human deficiencies I discover in him are to me as valuable as 
the most dazzling of his excellences." And again, nearly a hundred 
years ago (1759) Hamann says : " What a disgrace it is to our time, that 
the spirit of this man, who has founded our church, should be thus 
covered with ashes ! What a power of eloquence ! what cleverness of 
exposition! what a prophet!" And later (1780), "Are we not once 
more reduced to the point from which he started ?" 



RETROSPECT AND CONCLUSION. 

If, at Luther's grave, we once more inquire for the result of the 
great religious epoch of which he was the spiritual head, a historical 
review will give us the following answer : In the middle of the sixteenth 
century a point of great importance was gained, — the power of Rome 
was destroyed in a portion of the Christian world ; and the foundation 
was laid of a more intellectual and pure church, much more nearly 
approaching the original spirit of Christianity. An extraordinary im- 
pulse was given to the development of the destinies of Europe, which 
resulted in the victorious rise and lasting ascendency of the German 
nations ; while in the south of Europe it engendered a religious and 
intellectual ferment, which, although violently suppressed, yet tended, 
in the countries subject to the Roman sway, to at least a partial purifi- 
cation of Catholicism. 

Opposed to these great and positive results of the Reformation, 
stand, however, undeniably the less gratifying facts, that many hopes 
awakened in the beginning of the great change have been disappointed. 
In fact, the religious problem was solved only by halves, the new 
order of things founded only elementarily ; its principles secured by 
many struggles, it is true, but only partially carried out, and even the 
organisation of the new church arrested mid- course. Intimidated by 
the radicalism of the Anabaptists, and through the rebellion of the 
peasants ; wearied and embittered by the dissensions between Luther 
and Zwingle ; urged on by the continued existence of a powerful 
Roman Catholic party, — German Protestantism was forced to take 



202 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

prematurely compass and substance, and in self-defence, as it were, to 
intrench itself within an incomplete form. Under other circumstances, 
the great body of the German nation, united on the basis of the Gos- 
pel, would assuredly have completed the Reformation in a manner more 
satisfactory and comprehensive than the fragmentary condition in which 
it was left. Nor had the free and intimate union of the scientific 
with the religious spirit been lastingly attained, as hoped for in the 
first years of the movement. The beneficial effects of a liberal 
education had been again narrowed in many directions by the slavish 
and pedantic adherence to a few authors of Greek and Roman anti- 
quity. The national literature had lost, in the strife of opinions, its 
free poetic spirit and its joyous inspiration. Of religious mysticism, 
which formerly warmed and nourished Luther and the Reformation, 
little more than a dull fanatical element remained, which finally ex- 
hausted itself in superstitious enthusiasm, — ecstasy, prophecy, anabap- 
tism, and communism. But also a purer and deeper element of Ger- 
man mysticism was left unsatisfied, nay felt itself repulsed, by the too- 
narrow theological and scholastic dogmatism of later Protestants ; and 
down to our times, this more immediate apprehension of Christianity 
has never ceased to - assert its indestructible influence in different 
stages of development. The right of private judgment in interpreting 
the Scriptures, which promised so much, as established by Luther and 
his precursors, was less and less frequently exercised, in consequence 
of the dull and merely mechanical treatment of the articles of faith 
adopted by the church ; so that one of the highest and most important 
tasks of the Reformation, the creation of a real biblical system of theo- 
logy, in the true comprehensive meaning of the word, was accomplished 
and perfected in the last century only. 

Germany was also disappointed in the hope of political regenera- 
tion and national unity, as a consequence of religious enlightenment. 
It is true, her princes and representatives have had it attributed to 
them as an honour, that they did not consciously strive for this end; 
but if we carefully examine the connexion of German history down 
to the present time, we shall recognise, even in this circumstance, 
only the miserable indecision which has so frequently been the bane 
of Germany. Had not the Protestant princes and cities already ven- 
tured upon resistance to the emperor, and at length (in the war of 
Schmalcalden, 1546-1547) upon open rebellion? Did they not cause 



OF THE REFORMATION IN £ERMANY. 203 

a division of the empire into two separate masses, by which means the 
political hegemony of a Catholic or Protestant state must have become, 
sooner or later, inevitable in Germany ? Did not the constant fear of 
the emperor's intentions; the great, although temporary, importance of 
Gustavus Adolphus ; the misery of the Thirty Years' War ; and, finally, 
the gradual growing up, under much trouble and with changing for- 
tunes, of a great Protestant power in the north of Germany, stand in 
the closest connexion therewith ? 

If we estimate all this according to the full weight of its immeasur- 
able consequences, we shall have to acknowledge to ourselves, that had 
the princes and the league of Schmalcalden realised their position and 
its consequences without any illusion ; had they comprehended that 
then the possibility of a conservative reform and union of Germany, in 
the spirit of victorious evangelical Protestantism, was in question ; — they 
might, assembled around a Protestant emperor and a real reformed Ger- 
man diet, have entered upon the course which, much later, conducted 
the British empire to a sound political condition and to national great- 
ness. But this was not to be. And it is the duty of the historian, not 
to put his own construction upon the past, but to seek to decipher the 
handwriting of Providence. 

Let us rather complete our retrospection with cheering and hope- 
ful words. Much may have been unattained ; still, the memorable in- 
tellectual advance gained in the period of the Reformation contained 
the germ of life, the development of which threw open to the German 
mind a free career of civilisation, and awakened the deepest religious 
feeling. Both must lead to a great end, — to the true satisfaction and 
reconciliation of the moral and intellectual wants of human nature, by 
means of an understanding and a realisation of Christian truth, — if Ger- 
man Protestantism is not to be brought to a disgraceful end by inaction 
and schism. 

It was the object of this work to bring before the reader the hero of 
a period of German history, which, through the greatness of its events, 
and the immeasurable significance of its consequences, stands out from 
all that had gone before and has happened since. At the beginning of 
these thirty years (1517), a German monk stands at the church-door of 
Wittenberg, his finger raised in warning, and uttering words as bold as 
humble. At the close of the same period (1547), there stands a con- 
templative prince, whom half the world obeys, at the grave of the same 



204 A SKETCH QF THE KISE AND PROGRESS 

monk, in the same church at Wittenberg, — victorious from the battle- 
field, yet perhaps conscious that a greater conqueror than he sleeps 
below. 

Between these two memorable days lie the great actions of a man 
who first reformed Germany, and through Germany the world ; a man 
who, we may say, fashioned the beginning of a new epoch of Chris- 
tianity and history, because by his agency the internal and the external 
world, the Christian and the political spirit, were once again fused in the 
perfect manner which, on other occasions, it needed centuries to bring 
about. 

In the ages before Luther, only the conversion to Christianity of the 
Germanic peoples, and the struggle between the emperors and the 
popes, can be compared in spiritual importance with this interval. In 
modern times, we can only place beside it, loosely speaking, the extra- 
ordinary intellectual and political changes which begun with Frederick 
the Great and the French Revolution, the continuous effects of which 
are still felt on all sides. 

In the first place, a merely unprejudiced common human appreciation 
will suffice to discern in Luther one of the most prominent characters 
in history; the eternal, harmonies of the human soul found a pure and 
perfect echo in his heart. In the same manner, the age in which he 
lived was one of those historical turning-points which attract attention, 
again and again, by the grandeur of their events, and the importance 
of their consequences. 

Besides this universal aspect, we must view him from a national 
point of view. Luther is, more than any other, the man of the German 
nation. In his excellences as in his defects, in his grand qualities as well 
as in his objectionable peculiarities, are reflected the inherent charac- 
teristics of the German people ; and he may probably be considered as 
much the representative as the creator of the intellectual and moral 
peculiarities of our nation. His strong faith, his tenderness and depth 
of feeling, his great command of popular language, his fondness of home, 
his enthusiastic love of poetry, music, and nature, — all exhibit at once, 
in ideal embodiment, the true nature of the German character. Luther 
is, therefore, the property of his nation ; no other reformer has so tho- 
roughly identified himself with the mind of the people. 

If we recall, among other great names in German history, the 
reformers Melanchthon and Zwingle, the Saxon electors Frederick the 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GEEMANY. 205 

Wise and John the Constant, Gustavus Adolphus and Frederick the 
Great ; or among intellectual celebrities, Klopstock and Lessing, Ha- 
mann and Herder, Gothe and Schiller ; or tarn to the great religious 
reformers of the last century, Spener, Franke, Zinzendorf, Bengel, and 
Lavater; — they all exhibit many features of relationship with Luther, 
and in some qualities may even surpass him, but not one stands out a 
Luther. One is deficient in the poetic impulse, in the fulness and ver- 
satility of his nature ; another wants his depth of religious feeling, his 
firmness of purpose and strength of character ; others, again, want his 
eloquence or influence over his contemporaries. Luther would not have 
been Luther without these three leading features, — his strong faith, his 
spiritual eloquence, and firmness of character and purpose. He united 
— and this is the most extraordinary fact connected with him — to large 
endowments of mind and heart, and the great gift of imparting these 
intellectual treasures, the invincible power of original and creative 
thought both in resisting and influencing the outer world. 

In conclusion : besides the common human and the national point of 
view, we must very specially consider Luther and his time in a religious 
aspect. We deem a true apprehension of Protestantism, and also of 
our time (which is greatly determined by it), utterly impossible without 
a thorough knowledge of the man and of the time in which Protes- 
tantism originated : we must go back to the source, if we would look 
down the very channel of the stream which flows from thence. What 
Protestantism was originally and was meant to be, we can only learn 
there; what it became afterwards, the history of modern times must 
point out and determine. 

Most persons, when they mention Luther, think of him first in his 
religious importance; and this is certainly incalculable. He was the 
providential organ of a new epoch in the material (irdischen) realisation 
of Christianity. In him the reformatory powers (as a regeneration of 
the Christian world in knowledge and life) first asserted irresistibly 
their influence over the fate of Europe and over the entire course of 
history. As the founder of a new religious community, as the spiritual 
head of a particular party (Confession), Luther is not seen in his highest 
abiding importance: he is rather the founder of the Christian church in all 
her sects (Confessionen), than the mere founder of Lutheranism. It is a 
providential feature in his course, that he never lost the conviction that, 
standing on the ground of the universal Christian church, he was not 

c c 



206 A SKETCH OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS 

breaking the thread of organic and historical development, but was 
rather taking it up again by re-opening the living but blocked-up 
sources of the religion of Christ. 

When he sought to restore her noble and original form from hier- 
archical and rationalistic deformity and perversion, he laboured in the 
common cause of all sects and parties of Christianity, — in the service 
of all who did not give up the hope that truth alone can make us free, 
—that only the heavenly mind of the Crucified One can permanently 
unite us ; whilst human divisions, all the arbitrary creations of pride and 
egotism, must perish in the flames of divine justice, which the blind 
only do not see. 

Luther was able to exercise this extraordinary influence upon the 
religious world, because he had been prepared for it by the ardent 
travail of his own soul ; because, in a word, the history of his own spi- 
ritual career represented the conquest of spiritual (Pauline) Christianity 
over mere formal ordinances (Judaism). The gradual process by which 
he attained spiritual liberty became, therefore, for innumerable souls, 
the type of their own religious experience ; for through him they first 
became acquainted, in the significant antecedents of his development, 
with the pangs of the new birth, and the progressive unfolding of free 
Christian consciousness. 

We have endeavoured to represent Luther by briefly combining 
those particulars which must give him an imperishable significance and 
immortalise him ; — a labour ever necessary, and ever bringing its own 
reward, however frequently and efficiently it may have been previously 
executed. The German Evangelical Church will always look back most 
fondly, from every change in its temporal condition, and from every stage 
of its spiritual development, to its first and greatest Leader. 

At the present time there is ample reason to throw ourselves again 
into the midst of that great epoch, in order to attain, by the side of one 
of the most profound and powerful individuals of all time, a fitting ele- 
vation of thought, from whence we may view, with more ease and com- 
posure, the desolate steppes and the green pastures of the present. For 
in this one point at least, our times are brought into immediate contact 
with Luther's : then, as now, the highest social and religious questions 
were brought forward for solution ; then, as now, the most sacred rights 
of individuals and of nations were contended for ; and in the sixteenth 



OF THE REFORMATION IN GERMANY. 



207 



as in the nineteenth century, the die was cast on which the future 
depended. 

It may, therefore, seem a word in season, if, amidst the ferment 
of the antagonisms of the present century, we say, to those particularly 
who deeply feel the need of stemming the torrent hy the force of clear 
commanding thought and firm conviction : Does not every serious mind 
endeavour, when the present is insecure and the future appears over- 
clouded, to find the necessary light in quiet introspection and in 
looking hack upon its previous life? Why should not we from the 
same source derive light to solve the civil and religious problems of 
the times, and direct the future course of our church and people ? 



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